ss summer secret story
by usermechanics
Summary: Swept onto a cruise hosted by superidol Nico Nii, Umi finds herself falling for one of her most important staff members. Can she find a way to make her love known before the weekend is over? [EliUmi, some lewd stuff at the end]
1. prologue: storm watch

Umi always knew that Honoka was a bit idealistic, but this was certainly a step too far.

It wasn't like she didn't expect this the moment that she heard that one advertisement when she was listening to music on the way over, but there was something still strikingly surreal about how when she knocked on the door to the Kousaka family sweet shop, she was greeted by Yukiho (actually, that was rather par for the course in the Kousaka household). Actually, the rituals were pretty similar to how they were most of the time: Umi slipped off her shoes and put on some sandals before slipping past an "employees only" door so that she could head into Honoka's room. She knocked on the door twice and informed Honoka that she was coming in, as per usual. And, after giving her around five seconds to respond, Umi opened the door.

This whole sequence of events felt almost like its own cycle, one which never changed. She was so used to Honoka springing forward and embracing her in a hug which everyone in the city knew occurred, she was flinching at nothing. Instead of having being launched a meter by a rocket made of pure energy and bread, Honoka was hunched at her desk, nervously drumming her fingers against the desk while holding a cell phone to her ear. Things were definitely different, and Umi tiptoed into the room, concerned about what was going on.

Honoka's expression was not something that Umi was used to seeing. It was a look of determination she wished she'd seen on Honoka's face when she took her exams. Her gaze nervously darted around the perimeter of her desk. Her breathing was a forced calm, the kind Umi once experienced when she started getting admission letters from different top-tier universities. Honoka was practically clenching her body in anticipation for something, with whatever that phone call was being of utmost importance in that moment. Umi was scared, but she definitely couldn't do anything lest she break Honoka out of that trance.

It was not a trance that lasted that long. Honoka's shoulders began to sag as she placed the phone on her desk. Umi grew closer. Honoka turned, almost on instinct from the sound of intruding footsteps, her gaze as bright and chipper as if she wasn't performing whatever she was doing on the phone, and their ritual continued as Honoka left her chair and practically tackled Umi, sending them both to the floor.

"I'm so sorry I didn't greet you earlier, Umi-chan!"

Umi was a bit stunned, but more so she was concerned. "It's alright, Honoka, I understand you were busy with…" As she realized that she didn't know what Honoka was actually doing, she quieted herself.

"With the contest?"

"Contest?"

"Mhm! The Nico Nico Nii #1 Cruise in the World Radio Contest! It's happening today!"

Umi's eyelid twitched. Of course, this was all for that radio contest, that one where she heard one advertisement the day of as she got there. Of course, Honoka was invested in it.

"Yes, Honoka, I've heard of this contest. Don't you think that it's a bit strange to be calling in for a radio sweepstakes?"

"But Umi-chan," Honoka whined, helping Umi off the ground as she stood up, "this is a cruise for three! That means that you and me and Kotori-chan can go and take a cruise together! Wouldn't it be fun?"

"Honoka," Umi remarked, "Don't you know the chances that will happen? It's so small, there's basically no chance!"

"That's what you said about getting into the University of Tokyo, wasn't it?"

Umi stepped back, her eyes widened, almost shocked that Honoka brought her alma mater into question. Yet again, she wasn't going to bother discussing how a rigorous quasi-competition of intellectualism and leadership was nowhere close to being someone who was just lucky enough to call at a random time. Sadly, her reaction was enough to get a rise out of Honoka, and just enough for her to justify turning around and calling again, ostensibly for the sake of seeing if she could win those tickets.

"Honoka, I really appreciate all the effort that you're putting in, but-"

Umi was quickly shushed. Her resulting mix of confusion and annoyance left her quiet, unsure of what words to use as a response. In that silence, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the phone ringing, hoping to be that lucky reply and recipient of three fantastic cruise tickets. It kept ringing, then going silent for a few moments, before ringing again, the monotonous rhythm somehow engaging. With each silence, Umi started to wonder if someone on the other end would pick up before the phone gave another ring. Slowly, in those moments of silence, Umi could understand why Honoka was all caught up in the excitement of this seemingly-mundane activity, and her curiosity grew piqued enough for her to step closer to Honoka, wanting to hear whatever the other person on the phone had to say, if they even ever picked up.

Finally, after what seemed like minutes of waiting, the phone stopped ringing and a voice could be heard over the phone. To Honoka, it was the sound of her favorite idol. To Umi, it was the sound of the singer of whatever music was playing wherever she went. "Nico Nico Nii! I'm so glad that you wanted to call into our sweepstakes, but we're so sorry. You were caller number 26, and as you know, caller 25 will be the one receiving the tickets! I'm so sorry, but maybe you can still love Nico? Bye-bye!"

The phone was hung up, and then it fell from Honoka's hand. Honoka curled up into a ball, deflated. Her breathing grew heavy, her body shaking slightly. It was as if she had instantly developed a cold, and the only way Umi knew that she didn't suddenly drop ill was because instead of sneezes she heard sobs.

"Honoka-chan?"

Umi inched closer, almost ready to embrace Honoka, when she heard the sound of her own phone ringing. She huffed, wondering who it could possibly be. Seeing that it was Kotori, Umi gave Honoka a soft pat.

"Hold on, I need to take this call," Umi said as she excused herself from Honoka's bedroom. Closing the door behind her, she picked up the phone.

"Umi-chan!"

"Hi, Kotori. Sorry I didn't pick up. I'm at Honoka's right now, and-"

"Umi-chan! I have great news! It's absolutely fantastic! I need to tell you and Honoka-chan about this!"

"Is it really good news? Honoka really needs something to lift her spirits right now."

"Possibly. I got a gift from one of my clients, and she wanted me to share it with my two closest friends! Should I tell you or Honoka-chan first?"

Umi waited a moment before peeking into the room, where Honoka was still sobbing. She slowly walked in, trying not to make things any worse for her, and as she grew close enough, she lowered herself, speaking as gently as she could muster. "Honoka, Kotori wants to talk to you about something."

Honoka grabbed the phone and wailed into it, not necessarily caring about what Kotori was saying. That was, until Kotori started talking. Kotori was much more calming, her voice enough for Honoka's breathing to quiet down a bit, and after what Umi assumed to be some sweet nothings to help calm her down, Honoka and Kotori started talking about Kotori's good news.

"You had Nico Nii as a client?" Then, "she gave you something other than money to pay for your costumes for her?" Finally, "she got you three tickets to the Nico Nico Nii #1 Cruise In The World instead? And you want me and Umi-chan to go with you?"

Honoka was tearing up again, her lips now a smile. Umi watched in a curious, quasi-disbelief. There was lucky as in winning a contest, and then there was lucky enough to have the connections to completely bypass the contest. It wasn't luck; it felt more like cheating with how ridiculous a stunt it was, but she wasn't going to dare sour Honoka's mood. Kotori got her tickets to something she wanted more than anything; what else could she possibly want more?

For Honoka, nothing. For Umi, something.

"Kotori-chan! Thank you so much! I can't believe you want us to go with you! Me and Umi-chan are at my place if you want to show us the tickets! Mhm, see you in five minutes! Love you, bye!"

Honoka hung up. "Umi-chan! Did you hear?"

"I did, Honoka."

"I'm so excited!" Honoka let out a great amount of that excitement onto latching onto Umi, bringing her to the ground and nuzzling her. Umi wrapped an arm around her, letting her dispel that extra energy. "I need to make sure that I have everything I need for this trip! What if we meet Nico Nii herself?"

"Honoka, I doubt that we will meet-"

"But Kotori-chan knows her so we could probably meet her. Maybe we could also meet some of the other people who work for her?"

"Honoka, that is an absolutely ridiculous idea. I doubt we will, and even if we do, there is no chance that we'll be talking with Nico or any of her workers besides Kotori. We don't know them."

"We don't know them _yet _, Umi-chan." Honoka pulled away from Umi, and Umi sat up once Honoka was off of her. "Didn't you doubt your chances of getting into the University of Tok-"

"Meeting people on some sweepstakes cruise is _far _different from getting into a school I worked hard to get into, Honoka!"

"But didn't you?"

Umi bit her tongue trying to respond. Honoka did raise a good point, but it still didn't mean that she would intend on barging in on conversations that Nico would be having with her staff. She didn't want to seem rude or anything, but she wouldn't understand why by knowing Kotori she was entitled to such a luxury. Even then, she didn't necessarily think of the staff to be that much; Kotori's effeminacy was definitely an exception to the rule that she thought of when she thought of people who worked for idols. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with staff, big burly men who could easily throw her off the ship for saying a word out-of-line. The thought of it alone made her shiver.

As much as Honoka was right, she definitely wasn't going to make plans on talking with the staff.

"I did, but I still have my doubts about it. We're just some regular people. What makes you think that we're going to be treated like V.I.P's? I'm not even sure Nico would be on the cruise. She could just be a promoter!"

"Nico Nii would _never _do something like that!" Honoka retorted, clutching her chest like Umi's words physically hurt her. "She loves her fans too much!"

"Honoka, the idol industry can be very shady at times, especially when it comes to guest relations. It would be in Nico's best interest _not _to be on the cruise."

Honoka's phone buzzed. She looked at it before looking at Umi with a smirk. "Let's see what Kotori-chan thinks about it."

After a few seconds, Honoka and Umi heard footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hall, before the door opened and Kotori peeked in. "I'm coming in!"

"Welcome!" Honoka and Umi responded. Honoka added to her greeting by tackling Kotori. Her purse fell to the ground, scattering its contents about the floor.

"You don't even know how much I've wanted to go on this cruise, Kotori-chan! Gods I am so thankful that you're letting me and Umi-chan go with you!"

"I couldn't think of two better people to go with, Honoka-chan!" Kotori chirped in kind. After Honoka released her from her hug-prison, Kotori grabbed what spilled out of her purse and poured them back in, save for three card stock tickets. "Nico told me that we'll have a room for two and a room for one, though, so-"

"I know how you and Honoka are, so I'll take the room for one." Umi cleared that issue before Kotori could make it into one. It'd be easier to put the two girlfriends in a room together as opposed to feeling like a third wheel inhibiting on whatever they were planning on doing together. The more she thought of it, the more she felt it was a bit mean for Nico to make the rooms like that, and not just give them one room for three, but she'd probably argue that with whoever was providing the cruises. With that kind of carelessness, it was probably Ohara Cruises.

"Do you know if we'll see Nico Nii, Kotori-chan?"

"She told me she was going to be there, so maybe?" Kotori wasn't exactly certain. "She said that she'd do a meet and greet if she felt like it, but I'm not sure if she will or not…"

"Well, that settles it, Umi-chan!"

"It doesn't necessarily, Honoka…"

"Nico also told me that there's going to be a lot of awesome things on the cruise, like mini-golf, a bar, and a pool. She said that there was more but she didn't want to spoil any big surprises."

The one that stuck out in Umi's mind was the pool. Certainly, it'd be a good place for her to relax and exercise, considering that there was definitely not going to be any archery on the boat; it was a cruise, after all, and not a warship. As easily as she could have called it a haven of shamelessness with skin exposure and bikinis galore, she knew that it would be her best bet of being able to stay fit during her time away from home.

"So, when is this cruise?" Umi asked.

"It's on the 21st, according to these tickets."

"That's two weeks away! That's plenty of time to make sure that we have everything that we need!" Honoka chimed in.

Umi nodded, as did Kotori. "Do you know what the cruise will be providing for its guests, Kotori?"

"She said that the service would be like a hotel, so towels and those small shampoo bottles. She did recommend bringing our own towels for the pool, though."

That made sense. Considering that Nico was teaming up with some high-society cruise, it probably looked plebian to use a standard hotel towel at the beach. For someone like Kotori, the towel was definitely part of the outfit so even if either Honoka or Umi were careless enough to disregard how trashy it looked, they'd have to deal with their fashion expert of a friend.

"I'd recommend sundresses and summer wear for-"

"Kotori, it's June. We'll be wearing clothes for the summer."

"I'm just making sure. We want to look good in case you meet Nico, or some of her friends…"

Umi sighed. Apparently that was a possible reality. There definitely wasn't any chance that it would actually happen, but it was good to keep in mind. Nico certainly had friends in higher places, but as if they would come and talk with civilians like herself, or Honoka. Kotori, maybe, but that was because she actually knew Nico. She and Honoka were not of that royalty, despite Honoka's cries, and probably would never meet Nico.

She'd just have to prove that in two weeks.


	2. chapter 1: storms take time to brew

Umi let out a sigh as she closed her suitcase, having finally finished her unpacking. It was the end of a culmination of events, from getting onto the boat to traversing the plentiful people who were there-and avoiding screaming at the shamelessness of several of the guests-to finding her room and unpacking all of her clothes: primarily sundresses and bikinis. She still couldn't believe Kotori's insistence on sundresses, even if they were free and hand-tailored so that they would look and fit best on herself and only herself. Whatever it may have been, Umi was done unpacking her stuff, the latter half of her unpacking accompanied by a percussive knocking that she could finally answer.

Naturally, it was Honoka and Kotori, in swimwear.

"Sorry about that, Honoka, Kotori. I just needed to unpack everything and-"

"Umi-chan!" Honoka whined, "get a swimsuit on! Kotori-chan was able to ask Nico Nii if she wanted to meet us and she said yes! She wants us to be at the pool in two minutes!"

Honoka practically slammed the door in Umi's face, but even before that Umi was in a state of shock. She couldn't even get used to her room or appreciate how it wasn't claustrophobic-like practically every other hotel she had spent time in-before learning that she had to be face-to-face with the idol in charge of this party herself. After a few seconds of reeling, she realized that the clock was still ticking and that their arranged meeting time was coming closer than she thought. Even then, she was careful not to tear her dress as she stripped, and after a quick change into her white bikini (Kotori insisted on multiple bikinis for the cruise), she was ready to go. She grabbed her beach towel and purse-a means of making sure she kept her room key on her at all times-on the way out.

The moment she opened the door, she was glad she did, for Honoka and Kotori both grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her forward, practically leading the running towards the pool. As happy as Umi was for Honoka actually initiating the exercise session for once, sprinting seemed unnecessary, and if it weren't for the fact that they were meeting Nico she would have said something about it.

And Umi was just as prepared for meeting Nico as she was getting tugged along like that, especially when she learned what Nico looked like. She wanted to keep it as a surprise for herself, but Honoka's and Kotori's reactions gave it away. Nico was reclining on a chair by the pool, probably sunbathing, wearing a bikini as purple as her hair. She was with one of her close friends, or possibly a younger sister. That wouldn't make any sense, though: why would Nico have purple hair and her younger sister have black hair? The more she looked, the more she realized that there was a lot different between the buxom, almost motherly, Nico-she _had _to be Nico-and the flat, almost childish, girl who was in the chair next to her. They were definitely friends.

Kotori heading over to the younger-looking of the two made Umi second-guess herself. Apparently Nico _was _the flat one. She knew that idols loved their youthfulness but between the pink bikini and a cup size small enough to constitute training bras, it felt a bit too far. It looked like Kotori was talking to a middle schooler. "Nico Nii! I brought my friends!" Kotori chirped, directly in Nico's face.

Nico removed her sunglasses. "Really, Kotori? I was just starting to sunbathe!"

"You can sunbathe after you're done introducing yourself, Nicocchi," retorted the buxom one. "They're excited to meet you." She elaborated as she sat up, not only mirroring Nico's actions but showing just how different, physically, she was from her. It was shameless, but Umi was much more concerned about how her back was managing with such a large chest over the fact that she was meeting a super-idol like Nico.

That attention was, of course, brought back right to Nico as she began her introduction.

"Nico Nico Nii!"

Apparently this was the kind of stuff that Umi's generation consumed. Maybe it was because she lived a sheltered life, or maybe it was because she generally averted travels to Akihabara, but the song and dance that Nico provided as an introduction seemed absolutely ridiculous. As she continued, she darted her gaze occasionally to Honoka and Kotori, but there was no use discussing _anything _about it to them; they were loving it. By the time she was done, Honoka and Kotori both were eagerly applauding and bowing. Umi joined them, but with a bit less vigor. There was no way that anything related to Nico could possibly entertain her.

"And this is my girlfriend, Nozomi." She gestured to the buxom, who gave in kind a friendly wave.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, Nico, Nozomi-"

"I'm Honoka! And these are my best friends Kotori-chan and Umi-chan!" Honoka interrupted Umi's response, and before she could say something, Honoka and Kotori both were bowing. With a sigh, Umi followed.

"Nice to meet you, too!" Nico replied. "I was going to introduce you to my choreographer as well, but it seems like she's not in the mood to come out and show herself."

"Yea, I wonder where Elicchi is," Nozomi added. "I swore she came on with us. She's probably lost."

"Should we stay here until she shows up?" Kotori asked.

"If you want," Nico responded.

Umi tried stepping back, not necessarily interested in this encounter. It was surreal enough already meeting an idol, an honest-to-goodness _idol _, and learning that she looked much younger than she was-what little research Umi _did _do said that Nico was actually older than her. It was even weirder seeing her girlfriend, whom she assumed could do gravure to make some extra money (as if she really needed to). Even if they were giving friendly smiles, she still felt bad about interrupting Nico's sunbathing, even though it was quite clear with Nico sitting upright that she wasn't necessarily going back to sunbathing immediately.

The only reason why Umi couldn't step further away was because Honoka grabbed onto her wrist and tugged.

"Umi-chan," Honoka muttered under her breath, just loud enough for her to hear. "Don't you want to meet their choreographer? They're letting us meet her!"

"Honoka, I really feel like we should let them get back to sunbathing."

"We can let them sunbathe after we meet their choreographer!"

Honoka's tenacity was most annoying when she had a point, and it was no more clear in that moment. She wasn't letting go, nor was she moving from where she stood. It felt ridiculous. Umi felt less like she was doing a meet and greet and more infringing on idol free time, and it felt awkward to stand there. And this was all for the choreographer. Even if Nico's choreographer was the most attractive and approachable person she ever met, she didn't see a point in meeting her. But if Honoka was so hell-bent on making sure Umi and Kotori both met this choreographer, then she'd entertain the thought just enough to make Honoka happy. It wasn't like she was going to talk to the choreographer after their meet and greet.

Suddenly, Nico and Nozomi stood up a bit taller, as if trying to peek over Umi's shoulders.

"Look who finally showed up!"

"I thought you got lost on the boat, Elicchi!"

"Sorry, Nico, Nozomi! I didn't know you were going to sunbathe!" A voice remarked from behind Umi.

Umi looked over her shoulder, her eyes widening immediately when she saw the source of the voice behind her. The last thing that she had possibly expected to see behind her was a tall blonde woman dressed in a sky blue bikini. Her hair was tied up into a loose ponytail with some sort of whitish ribbon, with enough light blue to compliment her swimwear; it certainly helped bring out the blue of her eyes and helped bring out just how blonde she was. Even when she was panting and exasperated, it was enough to bring a hitch into Umi's throat.

It simply wasn't enough that this woman's face made Umi's red. She knew it was shameless, and she didn't care about all the voices yelling at her for doing this, but she was inclined to stare at her. Helping with choreography certainly did a body good, if she was even the choreographer in question, as Umi's gaze basked in her almost sculpted form; she could only remember how much she avoided changing with the rest of her archery team in high school lest she peek on someone like that. She had a type, and this woman definitely fit into every check she could manage.

"This is Eli, my choreographer."

In Umi's mind, she saw this just as much an introduction as she saw it as the main reason she was glad to have done this meet-and-greet. Honoka finally brought her back to reality by tugging on her wrist and turning her around, so that instead of shameless peeks over the shoulder she could at least look at her without seeming that much more awkward. This was definitely going well.

"Nice to meet you," Eli said as she bowed; it took every bit of nervous energy in her body to avoid staring, especially as she came to realize that she was just about as endowed as Nozomi was. As Eli stood back up, Umi searched for words that Honoka was already saying.

"Hi, Eli-san! I'm Honoka, and these are my best friends Kotori-chan and Umi-chan!"

Honoka and Kotori proudly bowed. Umi joined, ending up being the loudest and most prominent of the three when saying, "nice to meet you." She looked at Eli most of the time as she bowed, but she made sure to check the ground to ensure that she didn't incur a nosebleed. Thankfully, there wasn't any blood on the deck. As if she wanted to make herself into a bigger embarrassment; wasn't all of this enough?

Apparently not.

"Umi-chan," Kotori asked, "are you okay?"

Umi straightened up as if a shock was sent straight up her body. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" Umi remarked, not even ready to say that she was feeling so _shameless _because she looked at someone. "It's just a bit hot out here!" Her redness and sweating were definite red flags for both, so at the very least she could say that. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was thirsty, though; she wouldn't have minded if her thirst was quenched by water or by Eli's lips, despite her internal monologue screaming about its shamelessness to defer her.

"Do you want some water?"

All of this concentration Umi put on Eli and still she wasn't able to see that she had a water bottle on her. That water bottle was now pointed at her, cap still on it. Umi grabbed it, making sure her fingers didn't accidentally brush against Eli's, and took it from her, giving a small bow and thanks as she did. As she unscrewed it, she didn't hear anything from the cap, and it was much easier to open than it was to open an unopened bottle.

Eli _definitely _drank from this, and Umi didn't know if that was a perk or not. On one hand, she could have just initiated an indirect kiss with her-even though that would have been beyond awkward with someone she just met-but on the other hand, yea, that was a very shameless move for her to do. Not wanting to seem too wanting in front of everybody, she waterfalled, not letting the bottle come to her lips as she drank. After a few sips, she pointed the bottle back up, making sure no liquid was spilling from it as she gave it back to Eli.

She forgot the cap was in her other hand, but that didn't matter much; after Eli took it back, she drank the rest, with her lips against the bottle.

"Thank you, Eli," Umi said.

"You're welcome."

"Umi-chan?"

Umi turned. It was Honoka, who was busy walking off of the deck and towards her room with Kotori in tow. Umi's eyes widened at the sight, wishing she could just make a dash and meet up with her friends.

"Shouldn't we let them sunbathe?"

"Of course, of course!" Umi remarked, heading over. She did this not because she wanted to, but more because she didn't want to seem awkward in hovering over them and taking glimpses at Eli, especially when Nico and Nozomi were right there. It certainly wasn't helped that Honoka and Kotori were departing without her.

"We'll be around, and don't be scared to say hi if you see us!" Nozomi yelled as they headed towards their rooms.

As much as she didn't want to leave, Nozomi's words rang through Umi's head. She would definitely be saying hello. It didn't matter how ridiculous it was; she felt like, if she wanted to, she would definitely end up eating lunch with Eli at least once. As shameless as it was, she knew that if she didn't, she would be kicking herself over this for the rest of her life.

Worse off, what were Honoka and Kotori going to think about it? This was a side she wasn't used to showing; she didn't even think that anyone could have made her feel the way Eli did. It would be almost too weird for her to try to start talking about something like this, about how she wanted to be shameless. She also didn't want to burden them too much with information: after all, this was supposed to be a vacation, and Honoka and Kotori both were going to take in as much romance a cruise could provide for one another.

She wondered for a second if Eli was the same way, brought onto this cruise by lovebird friends. She immediately dismissed it because there was absolutely no way she could fathom Eli being single. There was definitely someone with more guts than she did who asked her out, but she didn't recall seeing any rings on her fingers. At the very most, she had a…

Was Eli even a lesbian? There was always the possibility that she wasn't. Umi couldn't help but think about that, about going up to her and asking her out on a date or something like that only to get denied because she never had a chance in the first place. She might have had a boyfriend at home, or even a girlfriend at home, and she wasn't going to start an affair, no matter how much she wanted her.

Umi couldn't believe how much worse she had made the situation with her thinking. If she wanted a chance, she definitely would need to pull off some Honoka-esque tactics, on top of being lucky enough to be able to pull off such stunts. She had people to talk to about it, but she didn't want to weigh down Honoka and Kotori with her own woes-especially because they'd be treating this cruise like love birds anyway-nor did she want to experience something like Honoka being loud about her shamelessness.

As Umi entered her room, she eyed the sundress she wore before this whole incident started. It would have been a lot more comfortable had she been wearing that instead; maybe they all should have worn sundresses, even Nico, Nozomi, and Eli. Even if she would have ended up still like this after meeting Eli, at the very least it would have been a lot less severe. She also saw a complimentary water bottle on her desk; it took less than two minutes for it to be gone, with Umi desperately gulping it down as an impromptu thirst-quencher. At least when she was alone in her room she could be as embarrassing as she needed to be, and her chugging was anything but ladylike.

After quenching her thirst, she put on her sundress, adjusting it and making sure it looked good on her. Dark blue was always a good color on her, and Honoka and Kotori-the opinion of a fashion designer working with idols-agreed, yet Honoka and Kotori's opinions didn't matter much to her anymore. There was only one particular person she was trying to impress, and she might had already butchered her first impression with a waterfall.

_How pathetic; how ridiculous; how weak. _How was it that she was the most ladylike out of everyone she knew until she _needed _to be ladylike to impress someone?

Umi collapsed on her bed, wondering when dinner was. She didn't care about what she was eating-certainly, there was half-decent food on this cruise-but she did care about whom she could have seen. This was her biggest chance of meeting up with Eli again, and as much as she knew that she could have screwed it up as majestically as she did a few minutes ago, she hoped that she could remedy herself and have a much better second impression.

She hoped, but she just had to wait.


	3. chapter 2: caught in a whirlwind

The dining area, compared to the rest of the boat, was especially extravagant. Circular tables with white tablecloths pocked the area, with six red chairs surrounding each one. The room was just tall enough so that nobody could touch the faux-chandeliers; the room was definitely not lit by fire, but the dazzling arrays of crystal that surrounded each of the lights were _something _like chandeliers. In the middle, there was a buffet, an assortment of different fancy foods ready to be served to the greatest amount of people.

Umi tugged at the hem of her dress as she stepped in, wondering if even what she was wearing was not appropriate enough for the occasion, but considering that the first group of people she saw was a family dressed in swimwear, she stopped worrying so much. She was still on alert, but at the very least she was the overdressed one.

She looked slightly off next to Honoka and Kotori, who both were still in their swimsuits and sandals, but she didn't mind. When they sat down, it was still pretty obvious that Umi was much more well-dressed than her friends, but she didn't care: she thought more about Eli than anything else.

"Umi-chan," Honoka asked, "are you alright?"

"You've seemed nervous all day," Kotori added. "Are you okay?"

Honoka and Kotori, blunt as ever. Either that or she was _not _hiding her emotions that well.

"No, no, I'm fine!" Umi tried to discard those questions. "I'm just getting used to the cruise!"

"Are you sure?" Honoka remarked. She could have done better at not sounding panicked as she answered her first question. "You can talk with us about it if you want."

"Yes, I'm totally fine. I'm as fine now as I was when I got on."

Umi wanted to look behind herself. The only two people she could see in front of her were Honoka and Kotori, and there were just enough chairs in the case that Nico wanted to sit down with Kotori she could have brought her entire posse with her. She wasn't going to say anything in that posse's earshot. That would be far too shameless for her to try to explain. It didn't even matter that Eli could have said yes if she let it out this early; in Umi's mind, there was far too much doubt for her to believe that as a possibility.

"Well, Umi-chan, if you need any help with anything, you can always talk to me or Kotori-chan!"

Umi kept it in mind. There were a lot of ways that she could have needed help. The more she thought of Eli, the more she thought of all the ways that she could need help. And it wasn't like Honoka and Kotori didn't know anything about love. They had each other; they were committed; _they were girlfriends _, and that was better than where she was. She was just sad and lonely, dreaming about being with some idol's choreographer.

Only on a cruise where Nico invited them on personally could such events take place.

Umi took some time to compose herself. There was absolutely no chance in hell that Nico and her group of people would eat with the rest of the people on the cruise. Even if she did, there was no chance that she'd be eating at the same time as they were. Still, if that were the case, which was highly unlikely, Nico wouldn't have bothered to eat with commoners. And yet, even if she did that, something which would honestly baffle Umi regardless of whom Nico sat with, there was no way that her posse could ever sit with-

"Hi, Kotori, Honoka, Umi! Can we sit here?"

-them.

That was definitely Nico's voice behind her, and as she turned, there she was, with Nozomi and Eli in tow. Clearly, they came straight from their sunbathing session; all three of them were wearing their bikinis and flip-flops. As much as it made sense that Nico would want to sit with her posse, and understanding that Kotori, too, was a part of her staff, Umi still felt like she was shivering. Having an empty seat next to her did not help matters at all, especially when it looked like Nico was circling the table to find a seat.

She didn't know whether to feel blessed or cursed, but Eli sat down next to her. She focused on her empty plate; if she didn't hyperfocus there she knew she'd be staring for far too long. It was shameful to stare, and if she took as much as one peep she was willing to bet with herself that she'd be staring for so long that even the captain would know about it. She wasn't even given the grace of Eli wearing something a bit more conservative: bare shoulders were in her peripherals no matter what.

"Isn't there a rule about not wearing only a swimsuit in here?" Umi asked, almost flustered. She swore that this was something that everyone understood, even though she was the only person following it.

"The cruise needs to follow my rules before I use them for my sweepstakes."

Umi looked forward, seeing Nico hugging Nozomi's arm in front of her, eyebrows furrowed at having to answer her question. It looked almost like a defensive measure, and Umi wanted to discard it as such, or at least, as something quirky Nico did because she was Nico and could get away with doing it. With her having the reach to do that to Eli's arm, however, it became more of a pang of jealousy. For what? She didn't care; as long as she could internalize how big of a weak-ass thot she was being, she could at least pretend to indulge herself.

Her eyes hovered to her glass, being topped off by Honoka. She gave her a quiet _thanks _as an aside, staring waveringly at the water. This was good; she could hide her thirst with thirst. Even though the water was cold and the glass felt like ice against her fingers, Umi drank, trying to extinguish the heat that was coursing through her cheeks. Of course, as she drank, she gave Eli a quick glance and felt all of that effort go to waste; sweat was definitely on her brow, and she hoped that Eli wasn't glancing back. It would be impossible to explain why she was looking so red despite not having been in the sun.

It felt awkward. It felt _really _awkward. It didn't matter that she was sitting next to two of her closest friends, people whom she could trust with just about anything. She could have gotten through any amount of small talk with them, but the inclusion of Nico and her friends just seemed to make it impossible. Nico and Nozomi both talked a lot, leaving Honoka and Kotori both trying to interject in order to get their points across. She didn't know what they were talking about-they could have been talking about a live show or some new promotion of merchandise or her new single. Even if she knew what they were talking about, and she could find a place to interrupt, it felt almost useless to try.

At the very least, Eli, too, was rather quiet. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to her. Maybe she would have had better luck trying to talk to the rest of the group. Eli looked cold, calculating, almost as if she was looking, too, for a moment where she could speak her own opinions on whatever they were talking about. She also glanced around a lot, and as Umi's glance followed, she tried to see whatever Eli saw. Nothing special: just a bunch of friends and a fan talking amongst themselves about something related to music (she at least _hoped _it was music).

Whenever Eli glanced at her, Umi made an effort to avoid glancing back. It felt nightmarish being under her radar-it felt like she was under her microscope, judged meticulously. She was a choreographer for an _idol _, for crying out loud; there was undoubtedly some harsh judgment coming from her. It didn't help at all that she was dressed so differently than everyone else. A sundress when everyone else wore bikinis? She looked like a prude. She felt like a prude-she felt like the most prudent of prudes-and what woman like Eli, who made sitting in a chair look like art, would want to talk to a prude?

Umi glanced as Eli's glance moved away from her, a smile on her face. That was probably going to be the only relief she was getting from her anytime soon. A small smile that could have come from anywhere, anything-from the conversation going on to the cruise they were on, and the reason for Eli's smile was her. Umi sighed as she returned to square one. She was going absolutely nowhere at this rate, and she was just about ready to give up. She had no place trying to court her.

"Is everything okay, Umi?"

That wasn't Honoka's voice. It wasn't Kotori's voice, either. It felt far too mature for it to come from either of them. Besides, it was on her right, where Honoka and Kotori were sitting to her left. Besides, Honoka and Kotori would have addressed her differently.

"Umi?"

In the corner of her eye she saw Eli's mouth move. As if things couldn't get any worse, she had to engage in conversation. One wrong word-hell, one wrong _inflection _-would be enough to screw this all up. And it wasn't like silence was going to be helpful either; Eli asked her a question, and it would have been rude not to answer. It would have been ruder to be quiet, probably. Possibly?

"Sorry," Umi began, her voice demure, "but-"

"Sorry?" Two words, and she already blew it. This must have been a new record. And yes, she was definitely sorry. She wanted to hide behind a wall of sorries just for that, or something so that she could hide how red she probably looked.

"What's there to be sorry about?"

"I was daydreaming." Oh, gods, she was sounding like Honoka or Kotori.

Eli giggled. That was enough to relax her a bit. "Why daydream when you're on a cruise?"

As if Umi would ever explain that to her. Maybe later, yes, but absolutely not now. She wanted to have a chance with her, and if she was going to say something about how she had daydreams about her, no matter how easily she could see herself doing that, she wasn't going to admit that.

"Well, what else is there to do right now?"

"When's the waiter getting here?"

The entire reverie of the table was broken with Nico's whine. Nozomi prodded at her side with her elbow before pointing at the center of the room, the buffet prepared and ready to be eaten. With everyone's attention on the food, the table migrated to the buffet, everyone stuffing their plates with whatever they could get. Umi wasn't necessarily sure what was being served, but she managed to put a bit of whatever she could on her plate. It wasn't much compared to Honoka's plate, or Nico's plate, or Eli's plate, even; she stared at how Eli piled what seemed like a small mountain of food on her plate, all without batting an eye. She shook it off after a few seconds. Eli was _athletic _; she earned the right to eat what she did, and she wasn't gaining extra kilos for it. Umi put a bit more food on her plate before returning to her table.

With a quick clap of her hands and a quiet _itadakimasu _, Umi started eating. As much as she wanted her food to be the centerpiece of her meal, she had forgotten about how she was busy in a conversation, one with Eli of all people, and she was more than eager to start it up again.

"Have you gone swimming yet?"

"No," Umi replied, "I haven't done much of anything today."

"Do you want to?"

Alarm bells hadn't rang in Umi's head this loudly since she accidentally ate a manjuu with habanero pepper in it (who even thought that was a good idea?). This was weird; hell, this was almost petrifying. She would have loved to see Eli swim, as weird as that sounded. It shouldn't have felt that weird; Eli was in her bikini anyways-maybe it was that she knew that Eli would be judging her in her swimsuit, maybe at the same level that she was judging her.

"Are Nico and Nozomi joining you?"

"They said they wanted to do mini-golf together. I don't mind; they have a right to go on a date on here."

If only she was implying what Umi thought she was implying. Actually, no, if Eli was trying to say that this was a _date _then she'd probably faint. This cruise had been nothing more than surreal enough, but this was on another level. After a bite or two of her food, Umi politely excused herself in front of Eli and turned around, facing Honoka.

"Honoka," Umi said, catching her attention.

"What's up, Umi-chan?"

"What are you and Kotori doing after dinner?"

"I dunno. We were probably going to see what's on this boat. Why?"

"I'm probably going to go swimming." She didn't necessarily need to say with whom, now did she?

"Ooh! That sounds fun. Maybe me and Kotori-chan will join you after we're done checking out the ship!"

Yea, maybe, if Eli left before then. That would have been awkward beyond all measure. Yet, there was so much that there was left to explore on this boat and to say that Honoka and Kotori wouldn't lose a lot of time in some places was a lie. If there was a boutique or an arcade, for example, she knew that Kotori and Honoka, respectively, would be in there for a long time.

"Maybe," Umi remarked, her fork scraping her plate. She hadn't realized just how excited she was to start swimming until she heard that sound; there was still food on everyone else's plates, including Honoka's.

Eli's plate, too, had food on it, she realized as she turned around. Umi was full enough; she wasn't uncomfortable with the amount she ate but she certainly wasn't hungry. She ate the perfect amount before going on a swim, and she didn't care that she might have just lingered in the pool instead of doing more intense swimming. Watching Eli eat almost made her feel impatient, like she was waiting too much for her, or like she was asking her why she wasn't eating like a competitive eater. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for her to finish her plate; if she did, Umi probably would have exploded.

Umi stood up when she saw Eli's plate cleaned off, only for Eli herself to cut her off. "Wait, Umi, don't you want dessert?"

Dessert didn't even cross her mind, and she didn't necessarily feel like it'd be the best idea to have something sweet before swimming, but that was not stopping Eli, who had not only stood up but started heading over towards the dessert table. It should have been that, considering it was the only table with things such as cupcakes and manjuu. Actually, yea, manjuu sounded good; there wasn't a time where it didn't. She sped up to keep pace with Eli as they approached the desserts.

Umi didn't need much time thinking of what she wanted; she took two pieces of manjuu, placing them onto a small paper plate. Eli took a bit more time, glancing at everything with some form of scrutiny. Even outside of her gaze, Eli was intimidating as she looked at the chocolates, but in a good way. After her deliberation, she grabbed a chocolate cupcake, peeling off the paper on the bottom.

"We can head out now if you want, Umi," Eli reminded her. "Just take the manjuu in your hands and we can head to the pool."

Umi slowly plucked the sweets off the paper plate and in her hand, watching as Eli headed towards the exit. She could have just stayed there for days-as much as she didn't want to admit _anything _about it, Eli had a cute butt, and she was thankful that she wasn't exposing _too _much of it with her choice of bottoms.

Before Eli could call her out on it, Umi started walking, catching up to her and making one final realization: Eli was a bit taller than she was. It wasn't much at all; Umi wasn't coming up to only her shoulder, but there was a definite height difference. If she lifted her heels from the ground she'd be the same height as her, but that idea was quickly scrapped as she thought about how it would look to do that. It was embarrassing.

"I hope you brought your swimsuit!" Eli joked, nudging her with her elbow.

Umi's eyes widened. She was wearing it underneath her sundress, and she knew that she wasn't going to be swimming in it, but there was still a reason to be nervous. She didn't even want to keep a tally of how many times she had found herself staring or thinking about Eli in her swimsuit-she wished she could help it-and how spectacular she looked. She filled her swimsuit out in every way, as if it had been tailor-made to be her swimsuit. Umi bought hers at a store and showed off her-in her eyes, with Eli for comparison-lackluster body in a mediocre way. It wasn't like she expected to be swimming with a model on the first night; she would have paid Kotori extra for a custom swimsuit had she knew.

Regardless, Umi let out a choked-out response: "yes." Even despite how weak she found her answer, it was enough for Eli to smile. She wrapped her fingers around Umi's wrist and pulled her forward.

"Let's go!"

Umi stumbled on her first few steps as Eli picked up the pace, from a brisk walk to a moderate jog. It didn't take too long for her to catch up, her fingers digging into Eli's wrist for support. _Of course, this is for support, _Umi thought to herself. _That's why we're holding our wrists like this, right? _

Even Eli's fingers seemed perfect. Each nail didn't extend beyond the fingertip, each coated with a sky blue lacquer, fitting perfectly with her swimsuit and her hair tie. Even when she wanted to do something like swimming she color-coordinated every detail. It was very admirable, and she could have sworn her heart skipped a few beats when she realized those fingers were pressed against her arm.

As they reached the pool, Eli slowed down, with Umi following her a few moments after. It wasn't that difficult of a run, and there was nothing that stood between her and swimming with Eli. If she wanted, she could have jumped in right then and there, wherever she wanted; it was one of the luckiest moments, one where she could spend time at a pool alone, and the only company she had was the one she wanted most.

All she needed to do was get rid of her sundress.

"Eli," Umi huffed, "can you turn around, please?" She didn't know if it would be more embarrassing for her to strip in front of someone like her, or if her redness was giving away far too much about her feelings, and she didn't want both to happen at the same time. Thankfully, Eli nodded and turned around, giving her some time to change out of her sundress. Even with Eli turned around, Umi also turned around, making sure that she wasn't in her sight as she took off her dress. Maybe it'd feel a bit less shameful.

As she unzipped her dress and let it fall to her ankles, she heard something behind her. Turning around, she felt like she was going to faint. Eli was staring directly at her, as if she were scrutinizing how she looked in her bikini. As mediocre as she thought it looked on her, Eli's gaze never turned mirthful or insulting; rather, it seemed friendly.

After picking up her sundress from off the floor, Umi turned around more properly. If she weren't trying to make herself seem more appealing she definitely would have started yelling. Even if she fell into the same pitfalls, she tried to justify it to herself by thinking about how lucky someone would be to have a body like that. That wasn't the case for herself, with puberty's cruel hand being only meaner to Nico.

"Sorry," Eli giggled. Even the sound of that was enough to calm down Umi a bit. "I think you look good in your swimsuit."

"Thanks," she replied. "You do, too." She didn't want to say that it was one of the main reasons why she agreed to swim with her in the first place, but Eli didn't seem to mind, nor care. Instead, she walked up to Umi with a smile.

As the distance closed between them, Umi felt her heart starting to pound in her chest once more, each thump feeling like a century. This was pure shamelessness: all of what she dreamed of because of a simple compliment about her swimsuit? This couldn't be true. It was far too good to be true.

And Eli certainly wasn't stopping for arms-length. It felt like an invasion of personal space, but it was Eli-she could have done whatever in her personal space and she would have thanked her for it. Only when there was barely any distance between them (and had Umi any more confidence, she would have closed that final bit of gap) did Eli speak.

"Let's get started, shall we?

As wrong as it was, Umi didn't want to be right. Sadly, she _was _right about it being too good to be true: Umi's fantasies started to break down as Eli plucked her sundress from her arm and placed it on a chair beside the pool. With her sundress, Eli left her sandals next to the chair. Umi followed a few seconds after, kicking off her sandals and placing them next to Eli's. Even in shoe size, Umi felt small.

Umi tentatively followed Eli as she made her way across the deck and to one end of the pool, making much less of a show about running. It was out of her element: running on a pool deck after being warned throughout her life about how bad of an idea it was; being with nobody but exceptionally attractive strangers; going to a pool without a lifeguard on duty. It was all so surreal to her, watching Eli seemingly disregard all of this, and even though there was quite a bit that she could yell at her about, there wasn't a reason to ruin this opportunity. When else would Umi have the opportunity to be alone with her?

Eli's eyes seemed to light up once Umi met up with her, skirting their feet around the edge of the pool. "Nobody wants to swim immediately after dinner, but that means we have the place to ourselves, right?"

As much as that particular thought had resonated throughout Umi's mind, it felt even more weighty when Eli recited it. They were all alone, on a cruise ship that wasn't really that full to begin with, at the pool, where wardrobe malfunction was…

...completely shameless! It would always be completely shameless for that to happen, and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Gods, why was she even thinking about that? After this, she definitely needed to talk with someone, whether it be someone as understanding as Honoka or someone who might possibly understand like Nico.

Umi turned her head, expecting to see Eli standing right next to her. Her eyes went wide as she saw nothing. She knew that Eli couldn't read her mind, but if she had for that one second, it would have definitely been enough for her to go away. It almost felt like a painful reminder, about Honoka and Kotori, about not being good at this at all.

"Cannonball!"

Umi turned around, seeing Eli, quite a distance away from the pool, charging towards her. Each step seemed almost graceful, even as they were used for a less-than-charming dash for the sake of a cannonball. Once she had finally reached the lip of the pool, Umi watched as Eli jumped up high, curling herself into a ball before hitting the surface of the water and disappearing into the pool. Once Eli resurfaced, she raised a hand out of the water, almost as if she were waving to her.

"Come in, Umi! The water's great!"

Eli was far enough away for Umi to be unable to tell if she was shivering or not, so she had to take her word for it. Umi dove in, greeted by the rush of cold that made her remember why she didn't swim so much. It wasn't the coldest she ever felt; if anything, it was cool enough to help her wake up a bit more. At the very least, there was a reason for her to be in the water, and she quickly swam towards that reason, closing the distance between herself and Eli without much of an issue.

But now what? All Umi could think about were her temptations, her demons which told her everything that she wanted to do but screamed away as shameless. As much as Umi wanted to get closer, she kept her distance. As much as she wanted to talk, or say something, she stayed quiet. As much as she wanted to stare, she tried either looking into Eli's eyes or avoiding glances with her. Gods, to call this awkward was to understate. What were they going to do alone in the pool? Swim laps? What else was there to do without making this any more worse than it could be?

Fortunately for Umi, Eli had an answer.

"Did you swim for your school?" Eli asked.

"I didn't," Umi replied, "I spent most of my time after school doing archery."

Eli nodded. "I spent my high school days working with the various dance clubs. I did a lot of ballet when I was younger, but I wasn't that good at it, so I decided to go into choreography instead."

As much as she wanted to ask if Eli found any success in that, she quickly remembered that Eli's love for choreography netted her the position she had. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been on this cruise.

"Was it fun?" Umi asked, almost curious. She needed to have some insane expertise in order to have found herself on this cruise; someone like Nico wasn't going to be using some four-star dance coach.

"It was," Eli replied, telling Umi about the multitude of clubs that she ended up working with in more detail, and how she had to go into a different club every day in order to help out with different forms. "I've had to learn so much more than if I did ballet."

Eli didn't need to say that. It was pretty clear once Nico said that Eli did choreography that it was her main sculptor. Dance had a way of doing that to people, of crafting even the most flop-sweaty and graceless into gods and goddesses. Eli was absolutely no exception to that rule. All Umi could do was nod without accidentally getting into more shameless territory, thoughts which were even more difficult to ignore considering how much she was realizing how her career choice had made her so, well, so _hot. _

Then, Eli broke Umi's reverie. "Think you can catch me?"

"...What?"

Eli giggled, unaware of how much that made Umi's heart sink and rise at the same time. "I was thinking maybe I could swim around and see if you can catch me. I'm expecting that you'd be able to."

Eli bobbed forward as she spoke, closing the miniscule distance between them. As much as she wanted to refrain from exposing any of her shameless thoughts, it was becoming quite difficult to do when an accidental brush of her fingertips against her arm could happen from the slightest moment of impatience. In that _accidental moment _, Umi couldn't help but appreciate the musculature of Eli's arms. She _definitely _wasn't kidding with her claims of being a dancer with how toned she was.

"I… I think I can," Umi replied, her voice almost a breathy whisper. Why would she need to catch Eli, though, when it was obvious that she was in Eli's grasp? If anything, Eli caught her, but that wasn't much of an accomplishment considering Umi felt like a deer in headlights.

As Eli pulled, then swam, away, leaving only the message of _catch me if you can _, Umi realized exactly what Eli was talking about. Hell, she felt stupid for interpreting her message in another way, but she couldn't blame herself for it. How could she, when Eli was that painfully close to her. Hell, if it weren't for the chlorination, it would have felt like a very steamy scene unfolding. All for this. At least now Umi had the incentive to catch her.

Trying to catch Eli was a far cry from trying to catch Honoka or Kotori in the pool, and the first proof of that was that Umi needed to _try _. Eli's legginess gave her more propulsion, and those toned arms were of absolutely no help with Umi trying to catch her. Her simplest strategies were simply not working-those being her darting around in straight lines. If she were Honoka, this would have been an impossible task, but there was nothing that could stop her. Not even seeing Eli the furthest away she could be from her in the pool whenever she finished swimming one of her lines could stop her from getting to her. Hell, she'd catch her no matter what.

Umi quickly started to employ more intelligent tactics to try to get Eli. She'd corner her in the shallow end of the pool so that she couldn't simply dive underneath her. She would out-line her, taking tight turns whenever she expected Eli to turn. She was getting better at following, but Eli still managed to outpace her quite well. Did she also choreograph her school's synchronized swimming team?

As much as Umi tried to chase, it wasn't necessarily working. The most that she would get would be a glimpse of Eli swimming near her, but she was not going to give in at any point. It was almost stressful. It hit too close to home for her, knowing that if the love chess she wanted to play was going to be anything like trying to catch Eli in the pool, she would have been much better off giving up. Ideas be damned, and stamina be damned. Umi wanted it, and she wasn't going to let anything get in her way.

And Umi found her chance. Eli rested at the edge of the pool, her arms resting outside of the pool almost as if she were ready to get out. She wasn't swimming or anything like that. She was open, and she was free, and she swam as quickly as she could towards her, grabbing her by the wrist and internally screaming with joy as she did. She was finally successful, and she had finally caught Eli.

"You're an impressive swimmer," Umi huffed out, the first thing she could possibly think of.

"Thank you," Eli replied. "I'm surprised you're not tired out right now."

"You need a lot of strength for archery," Umi commented. Sure, that probably wasn't true, but where else would she have gotten her stamina from? It certainly wasn't archery.

Eli giggled, wrapping her fingers around Umi's wrist and pulling her a bit closer, so that her side rested against hers. "Really now?"

Umi had spent a majority of her time trying to figure out when it was best and when it was worst for her to be shameless, but Eli seemed to have that down to a science. Even though the joke didn't necessarily land immediately, the inflection that Eli gave off was more than enough to tell her what was on her mind, and it certainly was something far from innocence. It was like she wanted to take that _stamina _idea and take it to another level, one that Umi was not necessarily comfortable talking about even though it had dominated her thoughts since she met her. This was, in a word, an ordeal, one that left Umi red and whimpering.

Instead of following through, Eli giggled, pushing Umi away. "You're with Kotori and her friend, right?"

Umi nodded. "I've known Honoka and Kotori since before we went to school. We've been childhood friends." It was almost weird talking about them like that, and realizing how long they had actually been together as a group of friends. "However, Honoka and Kotori have been dating since we started college, and it's been a bit…" She had no idea why she was talking about being lonely with Eli, but she seemed to sympathize.

"Nico and Nozomi are like that, too. It feels a bit weird being with them sometimes, almost like I'm interrupting them."

Umi had an idea, and for once it actually wasn't that shameless. There was finally some common ground between them: both of them were third wheels trying to find some sort of company which didn't feel like they were third-wheeling. It all made sense; if they were doing things together, they definitely wouldn't be third wheels to each other.

"Maybe we can find something to do tomorrow, just you and me." Umi bit her tongue after hearing what she just said. Gods, was there a way to make that sound any _more _awkward and up-front about wanting to do shameless things to her?

"That sounds amazing! Have you checked out the boutique?"

Umi's eyes widened. The last thing she expected was Eli to respond, and even better, to give ideas. She hadn't been-hell, she hadn't seen much of this place besides the pool, her room, and the dining room. She shook her head.

"You should definitely check it out. Meet me at the pool at noon tomorrow, and I'll show you where it is."

Okay, phew. This was just an act of friendship, and it wasn't a date. At least with that information, Umi could breathe. She wouldn't know what she would do if Eli actually asked her out on a date.

"That sounds great."

Eli pulled herself out of the water, and Umi couldn't help but watch as she emerged from the pool, her sculpted form made even more enticing by the droplets of water falling down her body like little crystals. And if it weren't that which grabbed her attention, then certainly the almost-unfairly-round curve of Eli's rear would have kept her gaze glued for days, shamelessly or not. After Eli left the water, Umi followed, pushing herself out of the pool and being embraced by the cold air.

Once they were both standing, they headed back to their chair, only to realize that there wasn't a single towel waiting for them, and Umi was certainly not willing to use her sundress as one. Before Umi could ask if Eli had any alternatives, she watched as long, toned arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. Before she knew it, she was pressed up against Eli, trying to stand on her toes to close the height gap between them.

"Eli, I'm not sure if this will dry us off," Umi whimpered, trying to figure out a way to get out of this because of how shameless it felt.

"But you do feel warmer, right?"

On one hand, yes, Eli was right about feeling warmer. With her chest pressed against hers, and her arms wrapping around her back leading her hands to be near Eli's ass, there was _definitely _reasons why Umi was feeling warmer, but none of them what Eli probably had in mind. Not that she minded; if Eli wanted to hug her, she wasn't going to be trying to get out of it, especially after that first wave of shamelessness crashed a while ago.

But at the same time, Eli's tactics were not warming Umi up. She was feeling hot. If she danced her fingers across what felt like flawless skin and let her fingertips soak up all that muscle underneath, it would have been a lot worse. If she was able to have a taste of Eli's lips, that, too, would have made things a lot worse. There were a lot of ways that this could have been made worse, and each one was something that Umi only minded for the sake of decency. It was hard to be decent when Eli was hugging her. It was probably difficult for a lot of people.

Hell, what was she even thinking about? It was pretty clear that Eli wanted to do this just to warm each other up, even though she was feeling quite hot and Eli still paid no attention to the idea of pulling away. Hell, even she was feeling warm in the embrace, probably because of how hot Umi felt, but this being a huddle for warmth was fargone. It had been in Umi's mind since it began, but even now, realistically, it was fargone.

It would have been, had it not been for Eli pulling away a few seconds after that thought. "I should probably go and see if Nico wants anything. See you tomorrow?"

Umi nodded. "See you tomorrow," she said before she watched Eli turn around and walk away. In the mess of shamelessness that whole episode felt like, Umi topped it off by enjoying the sight of Eli, of all things, walking away. Seriously, there wasn't a moment where Eli didn't look hot, even as her feet smacked against her sandals and her hair dripped pool water.

If only tomorrow could come sooner.


	4. chapter 3: two windfalls

Umi was surprised at how easily she rested. Before she went to bed, she thought that she was going to have trouble falling asleep just by thinking about Eli and the boutique; thoughts that were compounded with knowing what a boutique was, courtesy of Kotori. It was, at the very least, comforting to know that it was nothing more than a shopping date.

Session, not date. Umi had to remind herself that no matter what, there was no way she was going to consider this a date. This was about friendship, right? She was becoming friends with Eli, or something. At least she was close enough to her to do something like this.

Umi checked her phone. 11:55 in the morning, five minutes before their specified meet-up time, standing there awkwardly in a yellow sundress while Nico and Nozomi both seemed to be judging her from a distance as they sunbathed. It was difficult enough for her to think about talking with Eli, and the thought of actually approaching her friends and attempting to bide her time before she showed up with conversation was not going to happen. No amount of giggles and laughter from them would change her mind, nor would it be enough to tilt the brim of her hat to drown them out.

"Umi!"

Umi felt her heart sink as she heard her name being called; that certainly wasn't Honoka or Kotori trying to grab her attention, and as she turned around and saw Eli, she tried to give a smile. In contrast to Umi's sundress, she wore a light blue tank top and a pair of jean shorts, almost making it difficult for Umi not to stare. It was as if Eli were someone who could wear whatever she wanted and made it look good; but adding onto perfection did that. "Ready to go?"

Before Umi had much of a chance to respond, Eli tried to grab her by the wrist. Umi fumbled a bit, accidentally scooting her hand into Eli's, and giving her hand a squeeze. Eli didn't seem to mind holding hands, as she tugged Umi with the same urgency that she did when she brought them to the pool.

Once more, Umi let Eli take the lead. It made sense; Eli knew where the boutique was on the ship, and she didn't. She had no time to search for anything between her bouts of thought, made abundantly clear when it took Eli less than a minute for her to arrive at her destination. The boutique was next to the pool deck, and Umi had been unaware of it for all this time.

Well, at least, if her understanding of what a boutique was correct, this _had _to be the shop; if not, the sign above informing people that it was a boutique was also wrong. Racks of clothes of all sorts covered most of the ground area, interrupted only for the sake of small hallways for people to walk around. A few bins dotted the center, a straight shot away from the door as well as the clerks on the other side. If Honoka didn't know about this place, it would definitely be worth it to tell her to take Kotori; she would have fallen in love.

"Wow," Umi let out, taking in the sights of the boutique before Eli pulled her along towards the bins. She knew exactly what she wanted, as evidenced by her stopping mere centimeters away from the lips of the bins, and as Umi looked down, she really wished she didn't see what she was seeing. The last thing that she expected to be doing with Eli was _lingerie _shopping.

Wait, no, they were bikini shopping instead, if the sign sticking out of the bin made clear. Yet again, only someone like Kotori would care enough to do a "mix and match" style on her bikini, which this heavily implied. Either way, in her silence, she watched as Eli pulled out a bikini top with a blue floral pattern on it, as if it were a slightly comedic tropical souvenir, and placed it against her chest, seeing if it would fit on her.

Even with the obscuration of the tank top, it was very easy for Umi's perverted imagination to take over, thinking about how little that top covered. There was probably enough cloth on it for it to fit herself instead of spilling out as if it were a demi-bra. The only place she would be able to wear that top was a nudist beach or a gravure shoot. Either way, Eli placed the top back in with a sigh, muttering something about how she wished it were a bit bigger.

Eli went back to digging while Umi pulled out the top Eli put back in, trying to see if it would fit herself. It couldn't; Umi wasn't busty enough to pull something like this off, as evidenced from the pockets of air after pressing it against herself. This was probably closer to Honoka's size instead. She tossed it in, and Eli pulled something else out, another top with a very similar pattern, with quite a bit more fabric on it.

Eli tried it over her clothes, needing much less effort to put it on; and it actually fit. It wasn't like the top before where it was obviously not her size; this one obviously was, and as Eli pulled it away from herself, she let out an appreciative whistle before placing the top on the lip of the bin and digging back in, obviously searching for a matching pair of bottoms, right?

Apparently not, as Eli was, somehow, able to pull out yet another of those blue floral tops out, one which was quite a bit smaller than the first one she pulled out before handing it to Umi. "I think this would fit, don't you think?"

Umi tentatively took the cloth from Eli's hands and tried it on top of her dress. Suffice to say, it fit and it fit well. She said nothing about it, not wanting to get into how she fit into a small while Eli was definitely a large. Even then, it was hard to say anything about it, except for "it fits," without having a mirror to look at, or having her swimsuit on top of her dress. If anything, it looked a bit weird.

"They're matching." Umi let out a non-statement, much to Eli's laughter.

"That's the point, Umi! They're _supposed _to match." Well, this was certainly a token of friendship that seemed a bit weird. It wasn't as if Umi _didn't _want to match with Eli-the only concern she had about that is the feeling that she'd be completely overshadowed by her bustier, sexier friend wearing the same clothing as her and rocking it better. Before Umi had a moment to respond to Eli with any concern about wearing the same clothes, Eli had put both of her hands in the bin, scrambling all of the floral and tropical clothing in it for the sake of pulling out two bikini bottoms which fit the blue floral theme; the one slightly smaller than the other was given to Umi, who took it without a second thought. Yea, matching was alright.

At least, with feeling Eli's hand in her own, Umi was able to breathe freely, knowing that she didn't have to do any more bikini shopping. It felt almost uncomfortable watching her like that, thinking about how her bikini would look on her-and indulging in knowing that it probably looked insanely good on her. Umi walked with Eli, taking her lead once more as they headed away from the bins and towards the racks.

As they explored, Umi looked around, taking a cursory glimpse into one of her best friend's professions. Clothes of all sorts hung off of hooks on the racks, each one seemingly marked with something tropical to remind consumers of where they were. This was a cruise, and everything was decidedly cruise-like, from the innocent palm-trees and flamingos on pairs of socks to slightly sheer, rum-colored shirts for harder party-goers on spring break.

And then Eli stopped and pointed at something which Umi looked at for one second before looking away. As much as Eli was excited for what she saw, Umi was as well, but for a far different reason. There was something to be said about someone like Eli looking at a top which seemed to end what seemed like meters away from the hip made out of what looked like something tight and black, and a pair of shorts which looked like panties on first glance to match. What the _hell _was a cruise selling something like this? Was this cruise one of those primarily for spring break parties and idol fan cruises?

Whatever objections Umi could have had were ignored as Eli pulled the pieces of clothes off the racks and pressed them against herself, looking down before looking at a mirror. Umi was still a bit nervous knowing that she could see some of Eli's shorts even as she covered them with whatever outfit this was. Hell, it didn't even cover all of her chest.

"I think this will look cute for the party tomorrow." Eli remarked.

Umi had no response, instead just thinking of how Eli would look in that. Cute was a word that didn't work for it. Sexy, alternatively, was. Nobody else could wear something like that better, but maybe she was a bit biased about it. She was sure Honoka could have said the same about Kotori wearing it, or Nico with Nozomi, but she still found Eli to be the top contender for who should wear that, for her own benefits.

However, there was something else that was easily on her mind, even as Eli placed that outfit back on the racks. "Party?" Umi asked, half-glancing at Eli, half-glancing at the clothes she immediately put away.

"Kotori didn't tell you?" Eli responded, leaving Umi even more confused than before. Of course Kotori didn't tell her; maybe if she actually _saw _Honoka and Kotori last night, instead of just overhearing them in their room, she would have heard something about it. Umi shook her head, leading Eli to continue with an explanation. "Nico's holding a party for the last day of the cruise, and she's invited Kotori, her girlfriend, and you."

"Honoka?" Umi asked, giving Kotori's girlfriend a name for Eli to use. She knew that names didn't necessarily matter, and that Eli was going to forget her name again, but whatever. As long as they were on the same page.

"Yes, Honoka." Eli responded. "Nico thought it'd only be fair to invite her, and I thought it'd be fair to invite you."

"Well, thank you," Umi hushed slightly as she spoke, giving a small bow. It was partially out of respect, but also partially out of trying to hide the inevitable blush that would spread throughout her face if it weren't already there. "I really appreciate it."

The only question that Umi had left was one she was rather uncomfortable about asking. Wouldn't the final get-together for something like this be more professional than something for that outfit? As much as Umi wanted to see her wearing that, it certainly wasn't anything Umi could call formal, or semi-formal, or even casual or street. It was closer to ravewear than anything else.

Yet again, this was from the same person who allowed bikinis and bare feet in the dining room with the excuse of "because she could." Nico probably wasn't planning anything formal, and she probably had something more along the likes of "the #1 cruise party in the world" despite how there weren't enough people for something like that.

"That's tomorrow evening, right?" Umi asked.

Eli nodded. "It's on the last day of the cruise, which is tomorrow night. Nico and Nozomi are probably going to be very busy with each other, so I need someone to keep me company for the night."

Umi chimed in. "I wouldn't be surprised if Honoka and Kotori acted the same way at the party, so I'm probably going to see where you are."

Eli pulled the outfit off of the rack once more, faux-fitting it over herself and exposing just how little that number covered. Umi's glances were more than enough to answer the question of whether or not she liked it, but even if she voiced anything about it, there was a fat chance that she'd actually take the clothes, something which was made clear when Eli immediately put it back. It was a move that was actually met with some sort of disapproval.

Wait, wasn't wearing that supposed to be met with disapproval? It's something absolutely shameless, and, well, lewd? Umi subtly shook her head, trying to straighten through her thoughts, but it was met to little avail. She was still upset that the sexy clothing wasn't going to be worn. As long as she didn't have to wear it, it was fine.

And, then, Eli grabbed it once more, with a much more obvious intent in her taking it, before heading towards the changing rooms. Umi followed, having her excuse in the bundled-up swimsuit. Even though there was barely any distance between them and the changing rooms, Umi still felt inclined to grab onto Eli's wrist and follow her, her own wrist feeling up the mystery shameless outfit, feeling almost as if it were made of leather.

The idea of Eli wearing leather made her heart skip a beat, but as if she actually cared about that. If she cared about skipped heartbeats that much, she would have called for emergency health services when she met her. Hopefully such ridiculous thoughts didn't transfer into having clammy hands or anything like that. That would be embarrassing, especially considering that she was Eli's guest for the party allegedly going on.

Umi had been caught up enough in her thoughts to occupy the small amount of time spent walking from where they were to the changing rooms, and before Umi could say anything about it, Eli had already closed a door behind her, locked in a changing room. Well, it could have been locked, and it might not have been, but there was no chance that Umi was going to guess on that. There was a line between flirtatiously shameless and outright shameless, one that Eli danced on like she choreographed for it and one that Umi couldn't have found if it was actually drawn out and written down. Opening that door would have been the latter, an outright shameless move of a voyeur.

Instead, Umi found her own changing room and entered it, making sure to close and lock the door on her way in. The walls touched the floor and left barely any room between themselves and the ceiling, making peeping impossible unless Umi brought in a stepladder. The only person she could see was herself in the mirror directly in front of her, one which looked nervous even looking at herself.

With a quick unzip and pulling straps off her shoulders, Umi stripped, staying in her underwear as she put on her bikini. It looked awkward, and made the garments feel a bit too tight on her, but the last thing she wanted to do was wear the swimsuit in its intended way in the store. Hell, it almost felt awkward putting on her bikini bottoms over her panties, a moment which made her realize just how arousing the sight of Eli in whatever clothes those could be considered to be was. In pulling them off, Umi was relieved in one way: no stains. That'd be an awkward thing to talk about with the cashier.

Umi slipped her sundress back on and opened the door, greeted by Eli, wanting a second opinion of how she looked in her bikini. In the simplest of terms, Umi had to give it a recommendation; it would require a very concentrated effort to make a bikini that Eli didn't absolutely rock. Light blue complimented the twinkle in her eyes and her blonde hair, along with bringing out her relatively lighter skin. And this wasn't even getting into how Eli looked, disregarding the garment. She didn't need another reminder about how breathtakingly hot she was, but she wasn't going to be saying anything about how it was shameless. Instead, Umi gawked, preferring more to admire the model than the clothing she was modeling.

Eli then struck a pose, pushing a hip out and throwing Umi a peace sign. She threw one back, her arms shaking slightly as she did. "Do yours fit?" She asked, obviously referring to the match that Umi had slinged over her shoulder.

Umi gave her a nod. "Are you going to ask for my opinion on the other outfit?"

"I'm probably not going to get it," Eli remarked. "It's a bit too small on me."

That was somewhat relieving. Despite knowing that it would receive an even more rave review, she wasn't sure about how much more Eli she could see without passing out. Even now, she felt that she was painfully close to that threshold, and the culprit was her daydreams about that other outfit. Seeing Eli in that, in the flesh, probably would have made her pass out. At the very least, she needed tissues before seeing her like that, lest a nosebleed were to occur.

"So, do you want to get anything else?" Umi asked. It was a double-edged sword for her to ask a question like that. She wouldn't call herself rich, and nor would she call Kotori rich as well. If Kotori wasn't swimming from being a top-tier fashion designer for an idol, she could only imagine the scraps that the choreographer earned. Hell, did anyone earn anything besides Nico in this?

"I mean, I mainly came here to get swimsuits with you," Eli replied, a task that would have seemed much more arbitrary if it weren't for one thing: the only difference between Eli's bikini and her own was that Eli had a larger top. Maybe Umi was over-reading this a bit, but they were matching swimsuits.

As friendly as she was, wearing something matching didn't seem like something friends did, especially in a post-collegiate setting. Matching outfits were for items, like the long scarves that Kotori and Honoka shared during the winter. Eli and herself couldn't feel like an item, no matter how much she wanted it to be one.

But hey, if Eli wanted to say something about being close to an item, Umi wasn't going to argue with it. If anything, she was more surprised about her being up-front about an idea like that. She was definitely fine with this. The only issue was that they were just standing there, doing nothing, and it actually felt a tad bit uncomfortable for her to deal with. What was she going to do? Keep staring?

"Well, um," Umi tried to figure out a way to tell Eli to get back into her dressing room so they could go out and actually buy their new clothes, but before she could, Eli remarked.

"I'm going to change out of these. No peeking!" Eli winked, and Umi stepped back. How come Eli was so good at making her feel nervous like this?

Eli closed the door behind her, and Umi could hear her locking it; certainly, no peeking. Left with nothing else to do but look at her own swimsuit, and needing some way to bide her time waiting for Eli to change, Umi was almost at a loss. Waiting felt painful, and she had no idea what she could have been doing. She just stood there, almost as if she were waiting for Eli to unlock the door at any point. There was no way that she could challenge the "no peeking" statement, despite how much she wanted to, leaving Umi almost in a limbo.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Eli to change, and once she did, she stepped out in her street clothes with her bikini over her shoulder. "Ready to go?" She asked, and Umi responded with a nod, heading out of the changing room area before Eli had a chance to grab her arm and take the lead. After a bit of catch-up, however, Eli found her fingers around Umi's wrist, following her to the cashier.

Umi felt the occasional tug on her wrist whenever Eli saw something that she thought was cute, but every time she did, she felt the urge to get to the cashier faster. Eli was somehow able to find every single piece of clothing which, simply put, would be shameless in day-to-day life. These weren't workout clothes, either, things that were tight for the sake of something. It was almost as if the boutique knew that this cruise was taken primarily by delinquents during spring and summer breaks and had to have the shameless clothing to match. Some of the stuff Umi saw she doubted were in places such as Victoria's Secret.

As much as Umi wanted to see Eli in that kind of stuff, she knew that it was too much for her mind to handle, and she made a mental note to blot out everything about some of those clothes, even the designs, to ensure that she didn't abruptly faint from a shameless daydream. She was with the one person she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of, even if it meant sidetracking conversation for the sake of her own personal betterment.

Of course, this probably meant far too much to Umi; if Eli liked those clothes so much, she'd probably head back to the boutique and surprise Umi with them. If it weren't for Umi hiding her face at every recommendation, maybe Eli would have been a bit more upset. She didn't say anything about it, leaving Umi to believe that it was either fine or absolutely abhorrent.

Thankfully, it didn't take that long for Umi and Eli both to reach the cashier; more surprising, to Umi, was that Eli still held onto her despite her discomfort about her clothing recommendations. Yet, it felt like nothing compared to having Eli pressed up against her back after she placed her bikini on the counter, ready for it to be rung up.

"I guess I got a bit carried away there," Eli huffed, her words gentle but her breath hot against Umi's ear. "I thought that you would be into fashion, especially because you're one of Kotori's friends…"

In her defense, Eli was completely right about that. Umi did have to overhear a lot about fashion, especially back in high school when Kotori began making portfolios and had her and Honoka act as models. She wasn't into fashion in the way that Kotori was, but the outfits that Eli had recommended did kindle a different enjoyment of fashion, but at the same time, it was difficult to huff back in a romantic way that Eli was _too _sexy for those clothes, especially with someone watching.

Hell, Umi didn't even have a chance to respond before the clerk told her how much those two bikinis were worth. In Umi's eyes, they were way too much, as if instead of being made of whatever fabric they were made of they were made of jewelry. To Eli, it just meant a slightly greater dent in her credit; she handed over her card after hearing the price, only for her hands to return to Umi's waist, almost as if she were trapping her. Where was Eli talking about getting too carried away: in front of the cashier, or back when they were looking at clothes?

As soon as Eli received her card, she pulled away from Umi, leaving her almost shivering. What was going on? As much as she knew that Eli was a friend, she personally did not expect her to be so, well, flirty. Between the contacts, the displays, the amount of time they spent holding hands and wrists; there was more to it than just being friends, wasn't there? Maybe Umi was overthinking it a bit, but she felt a tad bit certain that there was more to this. Either that, or Eli was just like that and a bit too friendly and a bit too touchy with everyone and this wasn't special at all. Maybe she'd need to ask around. Nico probably knew.

Then, just as much as Umi expected it to happen, Eli helped tug her out of the boutique by her hand, her other hand with the spoils of purchase. She kept tugging even as they left the boutique, strangely enough heading towards the dining room. But before they entered, Eli stopped, as if she realized something. After a few seconds of silent deliberation, and immediately before Umi could ask what Eli was even thinking about, she entered, seeing Honoka, Kotori, Nozomi, and Nico all sitting at a table, with two more chairs.

"Looks like those love birds finally came back," Nico chuckled.

"How's Elicchi's room look, Umi-chan?" Nozomi added.

"I did _not _enter her room!" Umi responded, stepping forward. "We just spent some time at the boutique!"

"Yea, right," Nico retorted. "We _all _know you went to the boutique with Eli."

"I'm serious!"

"Maybe Umi-chan's just saying that because she doesn't want to be caught doing anything shameless!"

"Not you too, Honoka!"

"I believe her." Kotori, of all people, was there and ready to help Umi out. That was, until she followed up by saying that, "Umi-chan probably helped Eli-chan find some _really cute _clothing." One, she didn't, and two, even if she did, Kotori's inflection on the phrase _really cute _naturally came with some scandalously-raised eyebrows from the table.

Umi looked at Eli, wondering what on Earth they were going on about. Naturally, Eli took a step forward, clearing the air of whatever controversies Nico brewed up and spread across the table.

"Umi's telling the truth. We went and got some clothes from the boutique, and then headed here for some lunch."

"You're sitting with us, Elicchi?" Nozomi added with a giggle. Eli responded in kind by heading towards the table and sitting down, Umi following and sitting down right next to her. Yes, they were sitting with them. Well, Umi was: Eli, after a few seconds, stood up and headed for the food, leaving Umi with the rest of the table to worry about, making sure to leave her swimsuit bag on her chair.

"What did you think I was doing with Eli?" Umi asked.

"I dunno," Nozomi responded, "but what I do know is that Eli doesn't go on dates that often."

"That wasn't a date!" Umi replied, quiet enough for Eli not to overhear.

"Then what's going on with you and her and," Nico stood up, looking at the bag that Eli left on her seat, "matching swimsuits? You're not modeling with her, are you?"

To her left, Honoka and Kotori's eyes were wide and sparkling, almost as if Nico set off something in their heads. As much as she wanted to say yes, Umi shook her head.

"Then why else would she want to buy matching swimsuits?" Nico asked, pulling out both of their tops from the bag. "I know Eli likes to show off, but this," she said, dangling Umi's top in particular, "doesn't fit her. It probably fits me better," Nico added, almost biting her tongue at her statement. She dropped both of them in the bag and sat down. "Case and point, Umi."

Nozomi's giggles came after. Great, both of Eli's close friends were in on it.

Almost as if she knew that Umi was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, Honoka acted as a savior, switching the topic towards something much more exciting for everybody. "Nico-chan, you've talked with Umi-chan about the party tomorrow, right?"

"I don't need to be told about it," Umi remarked.

"Why?" Kotori asked, "because you're not really interested in parties?"

"No," Umi replied, feeling heat rushing to her cheeks. Everyone at the table stared at her, their gazes collectively piercing through her. She knew what question she expected, and if she had realized it before, maybe she would have kept her big mouth shut for once. "...because Eli told me about it."

Another round of cheers and laughs from the peanut gallery. As much as she wanted to thank Honoka for her valiant efforts to change the conversation, she knew she made all of that in vain; no other reason existed for the celebration that was going on besides the original topic of conversation. They went nowhere.

Thankfully, though, the peanut gallery did not go back into a round of laughing about Umi and Eli. Instead, the conversation steered towards the party, just in time for Eli to sit down next to her and join in. Umi looked at her plate, a plate of noodles smothered with beef and brown gravy-something apparently called stroganoff-placed next to a small cup of what was probably chocolate pudding.

After realizing that she was the only person without food, Umi stood up and headed towards the food, taking whatever she could and placing it on her plate. To hell with actually _knowing _what was on her plate; she just put a few sandwiches down on her plate and headed back. The less time she spent away from them, the better, but even after the miniscule time she spent, when she returned, the conversation had steered in some direction mainly about Nico's music. If only she listened to it.

"Do you know what you're doing for your next single?" Honoka asked.

"I should really get on my composer about that," Nico responded. "I haven't heard from her at all. Maybe her parents are still trying to get her into doing that hospital stuff." She shrugged. "It'd be a shame if she left."

"Relax, Nicocchi," Nozomi replied, patting her back. "She's just a bit busy right now. I'm not sure with what, but she'll probably give you your next song soon."

Nico leaned into Nozomi. "I hope," she remarked, grabbing and squeezing at Nozomi's hand.

"I hope she makes something soon," Eli added. "Kotori and I can't do much without knowing what kind of music she's making. It's also too bad that her parents forbade her from coming on this trip with us, so we can't ask her right now."

"Tell me about it," Nico sighed. "Especially with such beautiful inspiration as the wide ocean! I can make a song about how beautiful the ocean is!"

Eli tapped her fingers against the table for a few moments before nodding. "I think I could, too."

Nozomi burst into laughter. It took the rest of the table two seconds to realize what she was laughing about, and once everyone knew, the only person who wasn't laughing was Umi. Well, she wasn't letting out boorish chuckles, but instead she let out a rather nervous laughter. Yeah, inspiration about the ocean. Probably something about something flowing and blue; Umi just hoped that whatever _twinkling amber hue _Eli would bring up would be the sun.

Or, yet again, what if it was actually about the ocean?

It was too late to feel bad about overthinking, as the conversation kept going, almost at a pace that Umi was not comfortable keeping up with. Despite that, she listened, subtly leaning in and resting her fingers around Eli's arm. After all, she could just play along with the nonsensities that Nico and her crew were coming up with, one that was brought up immediately when Kotori noticed that Umi moved. More cooing ensued. It still felt weird.

With her free hand, Umi grabbed one of her sandwiches, hoping that it would take her away from the conversation. It didn't necessarily; all it did was gave her some delicious food to eat while overhearing everything, and only made her wonder about how many sandwiches had seafood in them. At the very least, it tasted good, which was all she needed to hold onto while overhearing all of the chaos that celebrities and their friends had while on a cruise. Well, that and Eli's arm; she dug a bit more into her bicep the more the table talked.

After what felt like an eternity of conversations that she didn't quite understand and a bunch of laughter, several fits of which Umi tried to join in on, everyone else had finished. The only food left at the table was one of Umi's sandwiches and Eli's chocolate pudding, the latter of which was being demolished at an almost unladylike way. Even then, Umi couldn't help but stare, watching her shovel mouthful after mouthful of pudding into her mouth and following it up with moans of appreciation. It felt almost surreal to her, watching someone like Eli eating like she was Honoka, and it took every bit of her being not to make light of it.

That was, until she finished, with a bit of pudding at the corner of her mouth. How she was able to do that with solely a spoon, Umi didn't understand, but it was enough for her to bring her napkin to the corner of Eli's mouth, cleaning her of her chocolate pudding. She even brought her other hand to Eli's jawline, softly caressing it as she wiped at the corner of her lips, only noticing how they were curling up as it impeded on her abilities to clean her up. Naturally, this was met with a bunch of cheering that Umi grew red about, almost ready to explode at them for laughing at something so innocent.

Well, maybe not as innocent as she thought. There certainly were ways to make it seem more awkward. At least, those ways were kept hidden as the rest of the table was still there.

"Anyway," Nico started, "Nozomi and I are going back to sunbathing. Care to join us, Honoka, Kotori? Let those lovebirds be?"

Umi banged her fists against the table. Lovebirds. What the hell was Nico even talking about? It didn't matter that Eli pulled Umi aside last night at dinner, nor did going to the boutique together to buy matching clothes, nor did Umi caressing Eli's face and wiping off a bit of chocolate pudding: there was no way that Umi's adoration was reciprocated. Noticeable, certainly, but definitely not reciprocated. It was still probably as hopeless a one-way street as it was when this cruise began.

Regardless of Umi's thoughts, Nozomi, Kotori, and Honoka all rose, effectively silencing her. It didn't matter what Umi thought; they already had their own ideas about what was going on, and Nico, naturally, was doing a great job at leading the others on. That's part of being an idol, right? To tell a great narrative no matter how much fabrication was going on? Of course Honoka and Kotori would follow something like that. It was hard enough to prevent Honoka from buying shady products off of television ads, for crying out loud.

Evidently, as Nico and her company left, it was time to hear Eli's opinion on the matter, about how they really weren't lovebirds and how there wasn't anything going on between them. She had to know better than anyone what her thoughts on this made-up relationship were. After all, she was a part of it. She knew, just as much as Umi knew, that there wasn't anything going on.

Apparently not. Instead, Eli did stand up, waiting for Umi to follow her. Once she did, Eli gave her a quick peck on the cheek, one that lingered long enough for Umi to start glowing red. "Thanks for today." Eli winked. "I'm heading to the pool to sunbathe. Care to join me?"

How couldn't she? It was more than just time for Umi to relax with Eli, but there was also Nico and her group there. Hell, it was made even easier for her to answer with the bag Eli was reaching for, with their swimsuits.

"Only if we can wear our new swimsuits…"

* * *

Easily, the worst part about the cruise was that it was far too short. Moments she wanted to share with Eli kept growing less likely as she tried to spend time with Honoka and Kotori as well, making sure that she was able to touch base with them despite knowing that she'd be inundated with a flurry of questions related to Eli.

Another thing that sucked about the cruise was that sleeping alone was awful, especially as she had a room right next to Honoka and Kotori. There was something _very _off-putting hearing the sounds of her two closest friends going at each other like there was no time in the world left. Combining all of their sexual noises with the flurry of mental images Umi had about Eli had left her hands cramping and damp, something which Umi didn't want to make any mention of. She didn't want anyone to know about how much she fingered herself to Eli.

Even after a long, rather annoying night, Umi didn't find herself trying to find Eli at all. She spent a good fraction of the day with her yesterday, and she was probably preparing herself for the party. Considering she was looking at some clothes in the boutique she didn't necessarily buy, she could have been there.

Despite not having seen Eli all day, it wasn't like it was a slow day. Most of it she spent with Honoka and Kotori, being absolutely quiet about what happened last night. They all knew what happened, and the bags under Honoka's eyes were especially telling in how little sleep they got. Hell, Umi had to spend a bit of the day alone because Honoka wanted to take a nap, something that would have been chided otherwise but, whatever, it was a cruise and Honoka decided to spend her nighttime getting more than a bit excited.

Oddly enough, Umi spent a good portion of her day sunbathing, occasionally looking around to see if there was anyone who planned on joining her. What she didn't necessarily expect to see was Nozomi sitting down right next to her, with a book in her hands. _The Art of Tarot _. Interesting, but not necessarily anything that Umi could strike a conversation about. Wasn't tarot just some card game?

"Elicchi was talking to me about you earlier today," Nozomi began, breaking the silence in arguably the most embarrassing way Umi could think about. It was enough for Umi to let out a small whine, long enough for Umi to realize how embarrassing it was.

"Did she," Umi paused for a moment, "say anything nice about me?"

"She thinks you're very dense," Nozomi began, "but besides that, she didn't say anything that wasn't absolutely glowing. If you want my opinion, I think she likes you a bit."

In her opinion. Right. Nozomi's opinion. She could have been wrong about it, but the thought was still very nice, nice enough for her to feel herself heating up even more. The heat crawled up her back, making her feel like she was almost sticking to her chair. It was also more than enough for Umi to be quiet, a silence she kept until she felt Nozomi elbowing her.

"Earth to Umi-chan, come in Umi-chan," Nozomi giggled.

That still wasn't enough to get Umi out of her trance. Naturally, Nozomi tried again, being a bit more personal about it.

"No wonder why Elicchi would like you. You're very mature and also very easy to fluster!" Nozomi chuckled, scooting away from Umi a bit. "Does that make you a bit more comfortable?"

What the hell was Nozomi going on about? "How would you know?" Umi asked, not even caring about comfort. Nozomi could have pressed her arm between her breasts and told her that Eli liked her, and she would have been comfortable enough with it if she gave a reasonable explanation. It sounded like she had one.

"I've known Elicchi since high school," Nozomi began. "I've been through thick and thin with her, and we even were members of the student council back in our third year. She's a cute and clever woman, and at times she can definitely be quite a bit flirty." That was something Umi didn't need to be told. "She especially likes rather muscular girls, and mature ones, too…" Umi suddenly felt vulnerable, despite wearing a bikini, in front of Nozomi's eyes, which were much more meticulous in scanning her than anyone she met before. "And you fit the bill well. Archery, right?"

Umi shuffled back in her chair. "How do you know?"

"Lucky guess, and some very toned arms," Nozomi chuckled. "I had to learn how to read people back in high school, and you're a very open book. You don't need to tell me that you like Elicchi back."

_Back. _What a word. It was love at first sight. It was embarrassing. It was, apparently, reciprocal. And there was no way that she could respond without Nozomi firing something back at her. She probably knew far too much about her, or Eli had gone all the way in telling her about how much of a person she was. Apparently, it was very positive.

"If you need a bit of a fixer-upper for the party tonight, you're free to assume that Eli will want to spend some time with you. I think she's planning on making tonight a very special night for you," she added, raising her eyebrows.

"And how would you know this?" Umi asked. It was bad enough that Nozomi was able to tell so much about herself, but adding Eli into the mix made everything seem that much more fantastical. She wanted to hear the reason out.

"What if she told me?" Nozomi remarked. "She trusts me with a lot of stuff, so you should probably keep what I said on the down-low. I don't want her to know that I've been telling you some of her secrets, but I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday."

"You were behind all of that?"

"No, Nicocchi was, but I couldn't stop her."

"You didn't even _try _to stop her."

Nozomi huffed. "It's not _my _fault that you two look cute together, especially in those bikinis yesterday. Eli really does have a knack for fashion sometimes." Nozomi then stood up. "I should get going. I need to at least make myself look presentable for tonight! I can't disappoint anyone, being the host's girlfriend and all."

Umi nodded. "Hey, Nozomi?"

Nozomi looked down. "What's up?"

After a few seconds of silence, Umi responded. "Thanks." There certainly were other ways to put it, but she was still trying to figure out what exactly Nozomi was trying to get at. There certainly was more to it than just her flat-out admitting something which she personally doubted, but even if it were just a bunch of lies she told to make her feel good, it felt good knowing that there was a chance that Eli actually would come around.

And that was enough for her. All she needed to do was wait until nightfall.


	5. chapter 4: storm warning

"Umi-chan!" Honoka whined, banging on her door. "Are you ready?"

"I'm not sure," Umi replied. She did decide to buy some clothes for the occasion from the boutique, having to suffer through going through too many pairs of short shorts and overly-short skirts before finding a pair of jeans that cut off at the mid-thigh. She complimented it with a rather loose shirt, complete with floral patterns and buttons. Was this presentable for such a party?

That was a question which was answered when she saw Honoka and Kotori, donned in more revealing variations of her outfit. Honoka cut off the shorts to quarter-thigh, and Kotori, despite the Hawaiian shirt, had all but two buttons at her chest undone, exposing a near-gratuitous amount of midriff. Definitely, shameless.

"You look so cute, Umi-chan!" Honoka squealed, giving Umi a tight hug. "Blue has always been a great color on you!"

Umi held Honoka tight. "You think so?"

Kotori agreed, giving her a thumbs-up that Umi could see only after Honoka pulled away and she wasn't as focused on her. "Nico-chan will be here to pick us up soon!"

"How soon?" Umi asked.

"How about right now?"

Maybe it was because Honoka and Kotori were in front of her door and Nico was too short for Umi to see her, but somehow Nico had materialized behind Honoka and Kotori, only being recognized when Kotori stepped a bit away from the door. Nico seemed to only be wearing a tee shirt that was a few sizes too big on her, its hem at mid-thigh as if it were some sort of advanced sundress; in the center of the white fabric was a portrait of herself, as a bunny, doing some sort of pose with her hands. It was probably some sort of signature move.

"Come on!" Nico directed, leading Honoka, Kotori, and Umi all towards the party. Umi in particular paid close attention to the rest of the group, having no idea where this party was even supposed to be. Even after asking questions, Umi had no idea where _the bar _was supposed to be, and the only way that she knew that Nico was going the right way was that she was growing more used to the sounds of over-thumping bass. She was definitely going for a classic club feeling, something that was probably a bit difficult for her to do with only six people plus staff on the cruise.

There wasn't much to the bar itself. It was in a dark, private-looking room with a few lights spinning around. The only other people in the place, besides the two bartenders, were Nozomi and Eli, the former wearing practically a bra and panties over a fishnet top, and the latter wearing a tracksuit with a pair of oddly-unfitting leatheresque shorts. Suddenly, Umi felt way overdressed, and she was thankful that Eli, too, was giving a somewhat decent display. Nico landed in Nozomi's lap, and Nozomi wrapped her arms around her.

"Have a few drinks, guys! They're all on the house right nyaow!" One of the bartenders, a short, athletic-looking type with an orange bob cut, yelled out.

Before Umi could say anything, Honoka and Kotori both headed towards the bar, and she lagged a slight bit behind them. Just in case, she turned towards the seats that Nozomi and Eli were in, only to see that only Nozomi's chair was occupied. Before she could ask too many questions, she felt hands resting against her hips. Umi looked over her shoulder, towards the offender, and let out a sigh as she saw Eli's eyes, twinkling.

"Can you get me a shot of vodka?" Eli asked, "I need to change out of this jacket. It's getting a bit hot in here."

Umi nodded. "Of course."

Such a response was met with Eli kissing her on the forehead before she turned around and headed out, high heels clacking against the wooden floor with Umi watching Eli's rear, perked further by those heels and made to look curvier in those shorts. That, and she loved just how complementary her leggings, thigh-high black hosiery, were with the rest of her outfit. It was growing hard for Umi not to stare. Maybe, she, too, needed a drink to get her mind off things.

"Good evening!" The red-headed bartender called out, "I can help anyone who's next!"

Umi stepped forward, talking just loud enough to be overheard. "Good evening," Umi took a few moments before looking at her nametag, "Rin."

"Gosh! How do you know my name, nya?"

The other bartender, a slightly chubby brunette, nudged her with her elbow. "Rin-chan, you're wearing a nametag."

"I am?" Rin asked before looking down at her shirt, seeing the nametag. "Sorry about that, ma'am!" Rin turned her attention back to Umi. "Now, what would you like?"

"I'll have a shot of blue curacao, as well as a shot of vodka. Two different glasses, please."

"I was gonna say. That's not much of a good mixed drink, nya!"

While Rin was trying to strike up some sort of conversation with her, her co-worker was busy making the shots. It didn't take that long before they were done, and she handed both of them to Umi.

"Thanks a lot," Umi stared at the other bartender's shirt, "Hanayo."

Hanayo bowed, and Rin followed. It was nice to have such nice company such as them, but it was weird seeing their faces go from that of friendliness to two different emotions. Rin seemed to be utterly fascinated, while Hanayo seemed like she couldn't look away as much as she wanted to.

"Thanks for getting my shot for me, Umi."

Umi turned around and praised herself for not fainting on the spot. Eli, indeed, went back to the boutique, and she indeed went and got those leather-like clothes that centerpieced a great majority of Umi's lewdest thoughts last night, and they looked just as fantastic on her as she expected them to. Or, at the very least, it was something similar to that design; she remembered how the top Eli was thinking about at the boutique lacked a lace trim on the top, or any purple, corset-esque lace running down the center. Instead of shorts, her lower half seemed covered by a skirt, held up entirely by a pink belt around her waist. It definitely wasn't as titillating as whatever she found at the boutique, but it was definitely close enough that it was a hard distinction to make.

Never had it been harder for Umi to choke out a "thank you," no matter how much effort she tried to put into it. Not even after downing her shot and suffering the toxic burn of the alcohol against her tongue did she feel much better, only being able to get her thanks out after a few seconds of regaining composure. Some social lubricant it was; it didn't make it much easier to talk to Eli.

Still, whatever confidence boost she found in her slight intoxication was enough to give Eli her shot, which she downed as if its contents were water, and after she placed the shot glass down, she reached over and grabbed Umi's wrist, once more pulling her towards another destination, this time being the chair next to the one that Nozomi occupied, and Umi sat down in the chair, almost feeling herself sinking into it while watching Eli continuing to stand. Had it not been for Eli motioning for her to do it, she would have felt bad about doing that, but apparently, Eli had something else on her mind for where she was going to sit.

And that included Eli popping her butt out a tad right before sitting down on Umi's lap, getting comfortable and wiggling her hips a bit while Umi just sat there, face growing ever-redder. How was she _supposed _to respond to this? She had a lot of questions forming as Eli continued to make subtle adjustments in her lap; and she knew that Eli could have said _yes _, or that she could say _no _instead, but all Umi hoped was that, if she could manage to get any of those questions out there, she would _say yes _.

Eli looked over her shoulder, her hands finding purchase on the arms on the chair for the sake of some sort of balance. On her face there was a mischievous grin, one which should have warned Umi that the stunts that Eli wanted to do hadn't even begun yet. As if that was even possible for Umi not to get lost in her stunning blue gaze, or let her eyes continue to consume her body's well-defined curves. Eli jokingly kicked a leg out, only to get a whistle from Nozomi.

"You going to show Umi-chan what you want, Elicchi?"

Umi's heart felt like it was actively attacking her ribcage, each beat an attempt for her heart to break free. It hadn't been enough for her to be sitting on her lap before someone added something about what Eli wanted. What didn't help her was seeing how the grin on Eli's face almost grew darker, as if it went from her being happy to being here to her knowing that she had the upper hand in what she wanted.

That was, until she watched Eli stand up, making sure to turn around and bend over so that her gaze met Umi's. Umi could tell that Eli's gaze was much darker than she saw from her before, and her words almost sounded syrupy even when juxtaposed against the almost-deafening music.

"Don't worry, Umi, I'll be back in a second," she reassured, but it was still enough that Umi reached forward in an attempt to keep her at arm's distance. It was a failure which led Umi to slumping in her chair, watching as Eli sashayed towards the bar.

Umi's first thoughts on watching Eli walking away were, despite Eli's plea, of worry: thoughts that she failed to capture her attention at the worst possible time, the climax of the whole cruise, and that she, for a moment, thought of saying yes before giving her one of the most disappointing no's she could have felt. She felt the eyes of the world on her, particularly against her right side, and as she turned, she saw that Nozomi and Nico both were staring at her, both with smirks and hidden snickers that they traded between one another. Clearly, she was about to be proven wrong about _something _, but she didn't know what.

As soon as whatever song was ending, Umi had finally started to piece together what was going on, something that was made even more clear when Eli, instead of sitting on her lap, laid at her feet. Umi leaned forward a bit, making sure that Eli was always in her view, before she heard one final comment from the peanut gallery besides her.

"Show her what you want, Elicchi!"

Eli sat up, her fingers resting at Umi's ankles and slowly bringing her legs a bit apart. Umi couldn't have felt more lucky to have been wearing shorts; who knew what Eli could have seen if she wore a skirt instead, especially as Eli's fingers crept up her calves and she continued to rise, her chest mere centimeters away from Umi's ever-spread legs.

Then, and only then, was it time for Eli's true dance to begin, and it was one which started with Eli standing back up, turning her back to her audience while maintaining eye contact. She crossed her arms, her hands on her shoulders before slowly lowering them as her fingers traced down her body to her hips, where, once she knew Umi was focusing on her, gave her hips a quick wiggle, bringing attention to her derriere.

Umi swallowed as she watched as Eli's wiggles became slower undulations, her hips swaying almost hypnotically. With each sway of the skirt, Umi could only hope that Eli lowered herself back into her lap, or she could find a way to express her appreciation for what was going on. Hell, it felt almost unreasonable for her to do, but part of her even wanted to reach out and give her rear a bit of physical appreciation. She was surprised she was able to manage that, her hand resting against her hip and swaying with it. To hell with it; she needed to let out _some _sort of message to her.

Thankfully, Eli had noticed, not only by bringing her hands back up to her shoulders and letting her fingers trace all around her body, but by lowering herself into Umi's lap for a moment of grinding, her ass creating delicious friction against Umi's pant-clad crotch. She couldn't help but dig her fingers in a bit as she felt her grinding, trying to give some sort of tease in return, but Eli had been quick to pull away before Umi could do much, sitting practically on Umi's knees.

Umi was confused about what Eli was doing until she kicked a leg upward, her toes pointed to the sky as she spun around so that she was facing her. Umi looked up, into Eli's gaze, and to the still upward-pointing direction of her toes, before gazing downward and realizing just how much of Eli's panties, dark purple and very noticeably lacy, was visible from her voluntary up-skirt. As if to say that Umi was free to stare, Eli only lowered her leg to have her foot pressed against Umi's shoulder.

Eli leaned in as Umi stared, one of her hands nudging Umi's chin upward so that she could have her full attention. "It's not polite to stare, Umi," she giggled, "but I wouldn't mind you being a bit less proper…" Eli's smirk grew more as she continued to lean in, only tilting her head to avoid hitting her head on her leg. Not even Umi's lips being centimeters away stopped Eli from continuing to lean in, and neither did the slightly-nervous move of Umi pushing herself back a bit. Nothing stopped her from what she wanted, and what she wanted was to make out with Umi, a goal met with a soft moan as their lips finally made contact for the first time on the cruise, complete with screams of what could best be described as the joy of a tabloid owner finding the hottest news.

Feeling Eli kiss her made Umi feel like she was melting. She didn't need to say anything anymore, and even if she did, the breath that she felt leaving her felt almost permanent. She knew in her heart that she wasn't going to be able to stay upright for much longer, but in those moments, she reciprocated, trying her best to keep up with Eli's kisses. Their lips mashed fervently, with Umi unaware that Eli had accompanied it with one of her hands in her hair, combing through her locks peacefully and diligently.

After pulling away, she gave Umi a wink. She kicked the leg on Umi's shoulder aside, lowering it to the ground before wrapping her legs around her. Her grin seemed almost predatory, like she knew exactly what she wanted and she was absolutely hellbent on attaining it. Eli was as if Umi had a shred of confidence and no fear in the shame of life. Umi, however, still felt the fear in that shame, with her eyes wide and her lips in the smallest of smiles. She _needed _it, but she didn't know how much she wanted it.

Considering that Eli's hands had already found purchase, particularly at Umi's shoulders, she responded by wrapping her hands around her hips, fingers eagerly reaching for handfuls of Eli's ass. She wanted to test the waters, to see just how much Eli was fine with her doing. She knew she was steeping that shame, and becoming more okay with it; hell, she was surprised that Eli said nothing about Umi practically palming as much ass as she could. It must have been her curacao talking, and it kept talking as she dug her fingers into Eli's rear end, appreciating its sculpture.

"Mmm," Eli moaned, pushing her hips back for Umi to take more of, and Umi continued to reciprocate, her hands squeezing but much more often rubbing Eli's rear end; in response, Eli gave her small tokens of affection such as kisses down her jawline and, once she kissed down her neck, a quick lick up from her collarbone to her chin. It left Umi squirming and whimpering, loving the feelings Eli gave her, while at the same time discarding what shame was left to feel. It was a cruise, after all, and only two people she'd see later would know about it.

Before she knew it, however, Eli's lips were back on her own, tongue probing at her lips for a few moments; Umi didn't need to second-guess herself on letting Eli in, or that the slight taste that she could recognize was _definitely _chocolate. Eli wasn't new to this at all, and she made that perfectly clear with how loose her tongue felt even as she darted around Umi's mouth, trying to start a dance with Umi's tongue. Umi could only hope to follow along, trying to balance her focus between the kiss and her hands tracing shapes against the small of her back.

Umi panted as Eli pulled away, craning her neck as she felt Eli's lips evening out her jawline and neck with kisses. She felt herself trying to dig into Eli's skin, not caring that she was carving out the first flaws she could have noticed on her with her fingernails. Not that Eli minded, either: she was busy playing with Umi's shirt, her fingers dancing with her button. It was something Umi didn't even realize was going on, with all of her focus on Eli's kisses instead, until she felt a cool breeze against her shoulders and collarbone. Only then did Umi look down to see that her top button was undone, and Eli was eyeing up the newfound, unexplored area of her shoulders, licking her lips in the process before diving in.

Looking around herself, all Umi could see besides Eli kissing around her collar bone was a small sea of faces, all six of the other people in the club staring in awe at what was going on. Umi whimpered; it was almost bad enough that this was happening, and that she was so awash in pleasure that it was easy to mistake this all as a dream, but she knew that no part of her was so shameless as to deliberately dream up a scenario that could end up so exhibiting. Yet, they were cheering, almost as if to help Umi realize what was going on and that this was an actual thing that was happening and that _yes _, Eli was on her, and _no _, this wasn't a dream.

Umi huffed as she looked back at Eli, who was busy playing with the second button on her shirt, something that was actually quite uncomfortable for her, and her hands grabbed onto Eli's wrists, screaming the first thing that came to mind: _can't we go and do this in private? _This was really the last place that she wanted to be in a scenario like this, where everyone was able to stare at her and she was pinned into the chair with no other place to go, and as much as everyone else in the room was fine with it she didn't want to have her bra exposed to the general public eye. As much shame as she wanted to rid herself of for the night, there was no amount of alcohol in the world that could have made her think this could continue decently.

And Eli listened. She listened to the words that Umi said and actually stood up, making sure to pull Umi up with her as well. She raised one of her legs up so that her knee brushed against Umi's hip, her fingers drawing small spirals on the exposed portion of Umi's chest. "Sorry guys, we'll be right back," she said, accompanied with a wink that pretty much said that she wasn't going to be _right back _or anything like that. There was definitely something bigger in her mind than that, and Umi knew exactly what that was. In doing so, she performed her most shameless move of the night thus far and ran her hand up and down Eli's thigh, making sure not to dig her fingers underneath her skirt. She almost felt proud this was actually happening.

And then, out of nowhere, Eli put her foot down and grabbed Umi's knees, picking her up and holding her in a bridal carry. It took a moment for Umi to realize that it happened, her legs kicking in her confusion. Of all the things that she expected to come out of tonight, this especially felt like it came out of left field, but she didn't mind, especially if it meant that she was free to give Eli a few kisses on their way out of the club. She didn't even need the music thumping around her when she had her heart to do that for her, knowing that there had been a long way that she came with Eli, and she had not even realized that until now.

Eli _liked _her.

Like, Eli _actually _liked her.

Umi slowly wrapped an arm around Eli's neck, cradling her with her fingers. "Are you okay carrying me like this?"

Eli nodded. "You said you wanted to get out of there, right?" She asked, bouncing her slightly in her arms. "I felt like this was more appropriate for what we're going to do," she added with a giggle and a kiss to Umi's forehead. That felt much more satisfying than anything else.

Only when Eli reached her room did she let Umi down, and when she did, she unlocked her room and let her in. The room was functionally identical to her own, a hotel-style suite with a bathroom directly on her left and a queen bed straight ahead. While Umi took a few steps in, Eli quickly locked the door behind her, and before she knew it, Umi's back was pressed up against the wall and Eli had a hand right above her shoulder, the distance between the two of them not even giving Eli's chest breathing room.

Umi's eyes grew wide, her cheeks reddened. She was definitely cornered at this point, not only by someone she wanted but by someone who wanted her back. Umi's hands lamely moved to Eli's hips, fingers digging into her rear end once more as their kisses continued. Umi almost struggled through it, trying at any opportune time, or any opportune-looking time, to breathe out, breathe in, take a moment to realize that this was actually happening, and the more she dug into Eli's hips, the more she knew it had to be real.

When Eli pulled off of her again, Umi couldn't help but pant. Was there something Eli wasn't good at? She made her feel completely dazed, every action seeming like it could easily blind-side her, and she felt almost unable to fight back. What did she even need to fight back about, anyway? She was pressed up against the wall, in private, with Eli, who evidently wanted her. What else could she possibly want?

"Should we get back to where we were?" Eli questioned, her lips dangerously close to her earlobe as she whispered her question, sending a new wave of goosebumps up Umi's skin. She responded with a weak nod, making sure to add something which she hoped Eli heard.

"Only for you."

Eli giggled, and Umi felt the tension releasing itself from her smile. She giggled back, even letting out a laugh or two, as she felt Eli undoing the second and third buttons, exposing a relatively modest yellow bra. Maybe had she known this was going to happen, she would have worn something a bit fancier, but in her mind, she only needed to wear something like this for comfort at that party.

That didn't necessarily deter Eli, who continued to kiss downward; Umi huffed at each one, growing into heartier noises as she descended and pressed her lips between her breasts. As she did, she traced one of her cups with her finger, a quite expansive circumference for a bra of Umi's size.

"Yellow's a good color on you," Eli giggled. "It really compliments your hair."

"Tha-_ ahh _-ank you," Umi huffed, interrupted by a moan from Eli kissing right above her next button, and after a few moments, it was undone as well. With this exposure, Eli's hands palmed at Umi's breasts, kneading them softly to a string of moans just as soft. Umi brought a finger to her lips, biting at it in an attempt to stop letting out such noises, but even then a few managed to escape.

However, after what was definitely a span of time too short, Eli pulled her hands away from her breasts, and Umi in response pushed her chest out, trying to keep herself palmed. However, that was difficult with one hand moving around her back and the other stroking an imaginary beard in questioning. "As much as yellow is a good color," Eli said, "I'm not sure if that bra looks good on you."

"Kotori said that-"

Umi didn't even get her full quip out before feeling Eli squeezing at her bra clip. Before she even had a moment to react, it was undone, and in her reaction Umi accidentally shrugged her bra off, letting it fall to the floor. The sight made her freeze, knowing that now, Eli had a full view of her, well, relatively modest chest. It didn't matter if she censored herself now, because she had already been in the open, but it didn't hurt to try.

Well, bar the slight pain of having her arm pushed into the wall, it didn't hurt to try. Instead, Eli almost began to squat a bit, the heels not helping with the slight height difference they already had, just to capture one of Umi's nipples between her lips, lapping at her chest with all the pride she could muster.

Umi couldn't throw her head back, but she wanted to do so. It was almost unbearable how hot she had become, like her lust had become a typhoon, and she needed some sort of relief. This wasn't helping; the feeling of Eli licking at her breast was nothing to the sight itself, with Eli's lips pressed against her breast almost on a tier of its own. Her crotch felt like it was on fire, and that sight cemented something that rattled in her mind until the moment she knew it was going to happen. Soon enough, it was going to be her turn, and she was going to have the opportunity to explore her body.

She almost wanted to bring one of Eli's hands to her crotch, so that she could know what she was responsible for. She wanted her to know how much of that heat radiating between her legs was because of her, and she wanted her to know how much she loved that heat, one which grew by the moment as Eli's tonguing only grew more intense. All she could do in response was push her hips forward, a move which was met almost immediately by Eli pushing back and having her against the wall.

Umi dragged her fingers up Eli's sides, almost pulling her close as she did so, until she felt fabric in her way from exploring. There was no way that she was going to bring a hand to her crotch if one was on her shoulder and the other busily palmed at her breast. In her lusty haze, she couldn't help but attempt to return the favor, something which she made clear when she tried to trace her fingers around Eli's torso so she could finally undo that corset-like strap. Despite it being a quite difficult maneuver, Umi eventually was able to do it, making sure that Eli was comfortable playing with her chest while she undid her top, fingers eagerly and deftly attempting to pull that string out.

Eli noticed. She noticed enough to pull away from Umi's body for a moment, leaving her whining as all of her stimulation disappeared at once. As much as it didn't feel fair, Eli easily made up for it by standing completely up, and once she knew that Umi was paying attention, she grabbed the bottom of her top and pulled it up, exposing a lack of bra. Umi's eyes felt glued to Eli's chest for those moments, sizing them up with her vision before doing so with her hands. Eli whined as Umi felt her up, giving her a moment of opportunity for her to step forward and free herself from the wall. There were better places for her to be.

Freed from her constraint, Umi slowly directed herself towards the bed until she felt the backs of her calves pressing against it; once she felt that contact she lay in bed, making sure to have gripped Eli's shoulders beforehand so that she could have Eli on top of her. It felt much better having her like this, with her hair framing her face slightly better and her back pressed against something much softer than the bed.

Eli had another idea in mind, slowly rolling herself off of Umi and lying by her side. She embraced her from the side, almost pushing her so that Umi was on her side before pressing her chest against Umi's back. While one of her hands reached around and grabbed her breast, she felt the other dragging down her belly before taking a modest handful of her rear end. Umi whined, only growing louder as she felt Eli's tongue glide across her ear. She felt her heart racing, almost desperate to try to beat even faster if it were possible, as Eli continued teasing her.

She had enough. Umi felt like she was just about ready to explode and the heat and tension was far too much for herself to muster, and she brought one of her hands to her side, making sure to grasp Eli's wrist before tugging it away from her rear. She let her fingers trace around until her fingers were immediately below her navel, slowly sinking so that Eli could finally feel just how much she was wanting. Before she could, Eli made sure to detour a bit, her hand fumbling to undo the button on Umi's jeans. Once she heard her zipper, Umi lifted her hips off the bed and tugged her pants off, almost glad that Eli was behind her so she didn't see just how much her arousal affected her panties. These were _definitely _going in the laundry when she was done.

After she disrobed, Eli's fingers dug into the insides of Umi's thighs, with Umi's moans as her response. Her hips rolled slightly almost as if she were waiting for her fingers to move up a bit more, almost at the point of begging-if there were any time for her to beg, it would have been right then and there. Instead, she kept as quiet as she could with her whimpering and moaning at every moment Eli moved her hand. Fortunately for her, Eli seemed to receive the memo that she gave her, and her fingers glided up her thigh after a few seconds of teasing, only for her fingers to come into contact with her panties, leading to Umi letting out a soundless breath and a very soft squelch.

"Feels good?" Eli asked in a huff before kissing right underneath Umi's ear.

_Good _didn't even begin to describe this. _Good _was for A's on her report card. _Good _was knowing that Honoka slipped her an extra manjuu whenever she went to Homura. _Good _was looking at Kotori's outfits if they weren't absolutely shameless. This felt beyond _good _; not even if she were sober would she be able to describe in detail how _good _this felt, even if she were given an infinite supply of paper to write out her musings. Umi moaned in response, letting her know that this was great; what else kind of an answer could she even give?

"Please, Eli," Umi huffed, "more…"

Umi felt as Eli's fingers slowly pulled away from her most sensitive areas and towards her hips. She couldn't help but look down as she watched those beautifully slender fingers hook into the elastic of her underwear and pull down. She was alright with this, with the sole exception being a moment where she felt her panties clinging to one of her thighs and smearing her juices onto herself, which earned a whimper. That didn't matter to her, though, not even as Eli's fingers traced up that puddle as if it weren't there.

_Finally _, Umi thought. There wasn't a way that Eli could tease her more. She was completely bare, and she was able to feel how close Eli's fingers were to her core. If that wasn't enough, she had finally noticed the scent of sex in the air, particularly her own, which wasn't helped much by being caught completely off guard and hadn't even considered shaving tonight. There was nothing but red flags and signs that Umi was absolutely ready for Eli to please her; she didn't care how many fingers, but instead that there were fingers inside of her.

But that moment that Umi anticipated didn't seem to come quite yet, as Eli found another way to tease her. Umi whimpered as she felt her breast being kneaded while Eli's other hand busily dug all around her folds, swirling the digit around her sex without necessarily parting her open. Umi huffed, pushing her hips in an attempt to throw Eli off her curve and to slip a finger inside of her, but it wasn't working at all. Instead, all she could do was huff and moan.

"Please," Umi whimpered, "please me." Umi felt herself growing even hotter in embarrassment, even if she made her request so quiet that she wasn't sure if Eli was even able to hear her. She really didn't want to say it again, or any louder, so she just hoped that Eli heard her.

Thankfully, she did; seconds after Umi requested more, Eli gave her just that, her fingers slowly tracing up and down her slit, making sure to spend a bit more time rubbing at her clit or at her entrance, both reducing Umi to even more moaning. Still, this wasn't good enough for her; she felt like nothing was going to actually make her feel any bit hotter than she felt, with the sole exception being every time she felt her clit being jostled. Umi tried looking over her shoulder, her gaze almost teary as she made one more request for Eli to follow.

"Don't tease me anymore…"

How she managed to say it was beyond her, but when she said it, she noticed a slight concern in Eli's eyes, one that made her wonder if she had gone a bit too overboard. In that realization, Umi brought her chest to the bed, slowly parting her legs so that Eli had more purchase to toy with her. She noticed in the corner of her eye that, while she was adjusting herself, Eli's gaze was quickly tracing her body, particularly noting the slight flush in Umi's skin and how her pussy was swollen, wet, and needy.

"Don't you see how much I need you?"

After a few more seconds of watching Eli look at her, Umi felt Eli's hand tracing the curve of her rear, slowly making its way from the small of her back to her folds. As she felt her fingertips pressing against her sex, Umi pushed her hips back, not wanting to wait anymore; hadn't she waited _enough? _

As she felt Eli's fingers pushing into her entrance, Umi threw her head back and moaned. So that's what bliss felt like, trying to fill her walls with fingers and making her entire lower body feel alight with pure sparks. Her hips continued to push back, helping Eli push her fingers deeper into her. It would have been embarrassing to be in this spot and not have herself filled to the brim, especially knowing that someone as hot as Eli probably could.

"Be gentle," Umi huffed despite her actions.

And Eli acted gentle. The almost-determination that she felt in Eli's fingers as she spread her seemed to disappear, her fingers more eagerly stroking her walls and seeing what sparks she could course through Umi's body instead of trying to overload her with thrust after thrust. It felt as if she had more control, that her hips spoke almost as much as Eli's fingers in making her feel good, and she couldn't help but dig her fingers more into the bed.

The soft squelching that leaked from Umi's entrance was nothing compared to her whimpers, almost drowning out the sound entirely. Even if the noises were something else, like the clapping of hips against ass or the whirring of an intense vibrator, that probably wouldn't have changed much. It felt a bit shameless to be moaning like that, especially when in the days prior she chastised Honoka and Kotori for it, but as if she cared. All she cared about was having Eli continuing to admonish her admiration.

She had not even noticed that Eli changed her position, her moans having given her an opportunity to move without much of a hassle, until she felt something very warm, wet, and inviting against her folds, particularly paying attention to her clit. Umi's moans only grew louder until she bit her lip, and even then, she knew that her lips were a dam ready to burst. She took another moment to look behind her to see what was going on, finally noticing that Eli was straight behind her instead of to her side, and with her face directly between her legs right next to her fingers. Umi watched as diligently as she could, trying to capture the moment of Eli doing this for as long as she could. It wasn't that much time for her to be focusing, as soon, she felt her eyes rolling into the back of her head, finally succumbing to her wanton desires and cumming all over Eli's fingers.

It took a bit for Umi to come to, but when she did, she was body-to-body with Eli, chest on chest, hip against hip, and lips against her shoulder. There was no way that Umi could excuse what just happened as a dream, considering she just woke up from it and it still was just as fantastic as ever. But, just to make sure,

"Eli?"

Eli stopped kissing. "Yes, Umi?"

There was a lot of things that she felt she could say, but none of them sounded right in her head. Everything seemed to be a bit too wordy, or a bit too difficult for her to confront in an easy way. It was almost unbelievable how much she felt, and words, no matter how hard they tried, were unable to summarize her feelings that well.

Instead of describing her thoughts, she gave Eli the best message she could, and that was for her to start kissing her, marking her lips and cheeks with soft pecks which made Eli giggle in response. As long as she was comfortable with it, that was good enough for her.

Actually, no. That was not good enough for her. It might have been good enough for Umi herself, but it was definitely not good enough for Eli. She went through all of that just for her to kiss her, even though now was the time for her to reciprocate, to give her a taste of what she felt from her. Kissing her cheeks might have been a good place for her to start, but she knew that it was just a good start.

Umi pushed herself forward, grabbing Eli by one of her shoulders and quickly flipping her around so that now she was on her back, and Umi was on top of her. It seemed so uncharacteristic of her, but what mattered to her was not that she was acting so formal but that she had needs that she needed to quench. It began with her kissing at Eli's neck, appreciating the soft sighs and her craning her neck so she had more room to explore, which her tongue and lips did with no hassle.

Eli whimpered, her fingers digging into Umi's hair; that gave her more than enough incentive to keep going, descending down her neck until she let her lips linger, for a moment, on her collarbone. She gave her collarbone a mixture of kisses and sucks, doing whatever she could to draw out more of those pleasured moans which she wanted so much, while her hands were busy working up and down Eli's torso.

Even if this were but a fling, Umi would not forget how smooth Eli's skin was, or how hard she felt; as made evident by her bridal carry, Eli was a rather strong woman. Umi adored the feeling of her fingers against muscle, particularly as her fingertips traced up and down her belly. It wasn't something that made Eli sigh much louder than before she started, but it was all the more for her to take in, and that's what she wanted.

As she lavished Eli's torso with her fingertips, her lips descended just a bit more, until her lips pressed against the space right above her breasts. Her hands, too, moved upward so that her palms pressed slightly into the undersides of her breasts. Umi looked up, almost concerned that she was going a bit too fast, all to meet up with a dark, lustful gaze that enraptured her and almost begged of her to continue. Even still, Umi felt it was right to ask.

"May I?" She really hoped that Eli was fine with her using implications; it would have been awkward to address that she wanted to play with her breasts. Eli nodded, pushing her shoulders into the bed just to push her chest out a bit more. As she did, Umi cupped each of Eli's breasts, trying to find an appropriate amount to call a handful; if only her hands were a bit bigger so she didn't have to worry about it.

While Umi cupped Eli's chest, Eli had been busy, too. She definitely seemed like someone who would be a bit more proactive about this, but she didn't necessarily expect for Eli to be grabbing at her belt and undoing it. She had only noticed when Eli's hips suddenly jerked upwards, with Umi having to follow while Eli quickly stripped herself of her skirt and tossed the belt aside, leaving her in only a pair of panties that clung onto her body quite desperately.

That didn't mean that Umi had any plans of slowing down. Quite the contrary, in fact: one of her hands slid down Eli's belly, her lips quickly taking hold of what her hand once held. She adorned the entirety of Eli's breast with kisses as she languidly stirred her fingers around, not caring about the amount of curlicues she doodled around her navel. Her tongue glided around her breast in whatever manner she could, registering not only the soft texture of her chest but the salty taste of her sweat with her tongue, between bouts of kissing, making sure to mix it up just enough to keep Eli moaning.

"Umi, _blayd… _" Eli huffed. Umi perked her eyebrow for a moment, almost wondering what she said, before continuing her adoration. Did it matter? She wasn't pushing her away; in fact, she felt one of Eli's hands against the back of her head, making sure that she was anchored to her breast as much as possible.

With her other hand, however, she tried stirring at Umi's sex, leaving Umi huffing and whimpering just as much as Eli was. She was still oversensitive from her last climax, and as Eli kept tracing, she tried to keep moving her hips away from her hand. The longer she lasted underneath Eli's touches, the more she grew used to them, and the idea of Eli continuing to rub at her sex became more of a reality, with Umi moaning just as much as she had before.

Despite Eli's pleasure, however, Umi kept herself going, trying to break through the throes of pleasure and continuing with what she wanted. She pulled off of Eli's breast, letting out a few heavy pants before lowering her hand from her breast, letting her hands trace her form out in whatever ways she wanted. As she doodled her arbitrary shapes into Eli's body, her lips took more command of her chest, kissing at every spot she could find which made her moan. It didn't matter if she lapped at the underside of one of her breasts, or kissed her areola directly for her to suckle and tongue her nipple; all that she cared about were the sounds, that she knew that Eli was adoring this just as much as she was.

Umi pulled away for a split second, looking at the handiwork she had performed on Eli's chest. Splotches of glistening coated her breasts wherever beadlets of sweat had not, ostensibly her own saliva from all her kisses; this was confirmed as she continued down, as her lips made contact with Eli's belly and Umi left similar stains across her abdomen. She was growing hungrier for her, even as her descent was enough for her womanhood to be outside of Eli's grasp, and she watched in the corner of her eye as Eli brought those fingers to her lips and licked at them, making sure to push those fingers all over her mouth in an attempt to be more seductive.

It worked enough for Umi to immediately pull down her panties and throw them to the ground with a small splat, her lips quickly following for a few moments before pulling away so that Umi could appreciate that even the most secretive and hidden areas of Eli's body were just as beautiful as those she saw every day. Umi's hands quickly took purchase of Eli's thighs, giving them a soft massage while Eli slowly parted her legs until her toes pointed at opposite walls, giving Umi a peek of her glistening, hairless folds parting, spreading herself without the need of her hands. It was a sight that made her drool, not only from her mouth, but also enough for her to need to sate the ever-burning desire that returned in her crotch with her own hand.

At least, that was the plan that Umi had in mind, not recognizing that Eli was watching her and that she saw that she had shoved her own fingers into herself.

"Umi…" Eli cooed out, slowly closing her legs and patting a spot right next to her. Umi looked up to observe her motions, and she felt almost hypnotized. She quickly returned to sitting besides her, where Eli made quick work in laying Umi down next to her, but pointed in the opposite direction, so that her face was centimeters away from her thighs. Eli pointed one of her legs to the sky, exposing herself to her once more from a different angle. While this was happening, Umi felt Eli's hands parting her legs open before leaning in and giving her womanhood a lick.

Now she understood what she wanted, and grabbing Eli by the hips, she dug into her folds, tongue lolling around and taking in as much of her as she could. She wanted to savor everything; about how hot she felt against her tongue and how delicious she tasted, and how she was able to feel Eli's moans against her sex between her own licks. It felt nothing short of heavenly, and Umi's fingers dug more into her rear as she became more enamored with eating her out.

Eli was enjoying every moment where Umi ran her tongue across her sex, bucking and pushing her hips into her as to help her know how much she wanted this. It didn't matter that her licks might have been a bit amateurish, and given that she was in front of Eli, all potential skill probably would have gone out the window anyway. She just wanted to adore Eli with all kinds of licks and kisses, using her moans primarily as a way to gauge how much she loved it.

That was how it worked in theory. It was a lot harder when she felt Eli's chin rubbing against her clit and her tongue circling around her entrance. Umi felt her eyes crossing at the pleasure, attempting to emulate the actions to the best extent that she could, using her finger instead of her chin to rub at her clit, using its dexterity to rub the nub in circles and however she dare wanted, much to Eli's very vocal pleasure, which in turn made it even harder for her to pay attention to what she was doing.

Umi continued to run her tongue along Eli's sex, particularly paying attention to how loudly she moaned as she felt herself running across her entrance. Eli's hips gave a very distinctive buck, as if she tried to push her tongue into her folds even more, and Umi had no chance of pulling away. Her tongue was pushed into Eli's core, heartily milked by her folds as she did nothing but flutter her tongue inside her as best as she could. As long as it was enough to make her continue to whine, she was fine doing it, and Eli definitely wasn't saying anything bad about it.

If she were, she definitely wouldn't have been mixing Russian in with her swears and compliments. It was more than enough fuel for her to keep going, her tongue occasionally pulling out to circle at her entrance before pushing inside. All the while, she pushed her hips into Eli's face more, trying her best to make sure that Eli was reciprocating to the best of her ability. Yet, as she continued feasting, she couldn't help but feel Eli's tongue work slowing down, instead yielding to even more swears and moans. Eli's hands leaving her hips cemented that, almost making Umi wish that she could see what Eli was doing to herself as she continued to eat her out.

That was, until Eli pulled a bit further away, letting her curses be completely heard to the world. Curses about how she was so close and that she wanted Umi to keep going, that what she was doing felt absolutely perfect. She had no plan on stopping, not caring about the juices on the corners of her lips or anything of the sort. Her hunger felt no boundaries, and especially none which would have ended with an unhappy Eli. She knew she was close, and one more thrust of her tongue inside of her would have definitely brought her to her peak.

As Umi tried to push inside of her, however, she could feel the tension that had built up pushing back, making sticking her tongue inside her even more difficult for her to do. No matter how much she tried, it wouldn't work, and in her frustration, she brought the hand that once rubbed her clit back, giving her clit a smack out of desperation. It was all she needed to do for that tension to release, a jet of Eli's fluids leaking from her entrance and spilling into Umi's open mouth. At first, her mouth was agape, almost in shock, as the flavor overcame her, but as Eli continued riding her climax, Umi grew adjusted, taking appropriate swallows whenever she could to make sure she had enough of Eli's flavor to last her a lifetime, just in case this was the last time she saw her. That taste needed to last.

As much as she wanted to ride out her second orgasm of the night, she waited for Eli to come to, and she made sure she didn't come to with a face full of her pussy. As much as she would have expected Eli to do that to her, it seemed quite crude for her to do, and so she crawled around in the bed until Umi was more comfortably laying next to her, face to face.

"Eli? Eli?" Umi kept whispering, each time hoping that it somehow made her wake up a bit faster. Whether or not it worked, she stopped when Eli's eyes fluttered open, the lust all but gone from her gaze. Definitely, she was in her afterglow.

"Umi?" She asked.

Umi nodded. It felt almost awkward for her. She finally had the right to say that what happened actually happened, but at the same time, that felt so weird to think about, much less say. All she could do as she looked at her was pull her in a bit closer, tightening the embrace as much as she could. She didn't know what she wanted to say, but Eli had something.

"I really hope that I can see you soon. You said that you're one of Kotori's friends?"

Umi nodded. "I've lived with her as a neighbor since we were kids."

Eli cocked an eyebrow. "Do you still live near her?"

"I'm still in that part of Tokyo," Umi replied, her fingers drawing shapes on the small of her back.

What she didn't expect was for Eli to hug her tightly, almost a suffocating amount of pressure suddenly against her back. Umi reciprocated, trying to hug her even tighter without giving her the discomfort that she was feeling.

"I'm close by!" Eli replied before realizing that she was hugging her as tightly as she did. Finally, it was a bit of good news for her to hear, but it could have just been the afterglow talking. "I'd really like to see you around more often."

"I, uh," Umi remarked, trying her best to come up with some idea as to what she could possibly say. "Can I stay here the night, too?"

"Are you okay with me having a night light?" After a moment of silence, Umi could see the red flushing in Eli's cheeks before she tried to hide in the crook of her shoulder.

"Even if I weren't, I'd make sure to protect you." To hell with it; if they were going to be close, then Umi could at least speak her mind, something which Eli remarked to with a quiet giggle.

"You're pretty cute sometimes."

Now it was Umi's turn to blush, growing outrageously red at her statement. "I, uh," she knew that she couldn't think of anything to say, and even if she did, the actions that happened tonight spoke much more than words ever could. Having Eli kissing her forehead did not help things, but it did let her be vulnerable and hide her head in the crook of Eli's neck. It was absolutely comfortable resting herself there, the only issue she had was the room was still lit; not with a small night light, but with the ceiling lights turned on above her, rendering it almost impossible to sleep.

"Sorry, but" Umi began, pulling herself away for a moment, "I'm going to turn off the lights. Do you need to turn on your night light before I do that?"

Eli shook her head. "It's already plugged in," she responded, gesturing to a power socket with some sort of tube plugged into it. "It's not that bright, so I hope you can sleep with it on."

Whether or not that light was going to be that much of an issue depended entirely on how bright it was when the lights were out, and as Umi turned them off, she knew that the dim glow was definitely not enough light to make her feel uncomfortable sleeping, especially with its slightly reddish glow. What it did do, however, was made the room seem much more intimate, especially with how the light framed the bed and how Eli laid there, waiting for her to return. It didn't take too long for Umi to complete Eli's wishes, and once she returned to the bed, she wrapped herself up in Eli's arms once more, nuzzling against her shoulder.

"Comfortable?" Eli asked, to which Umi gave a pleased hum in response. What wasn't comfortable about it anymore? If anything, being in her embrace felt slightly hot, but it wasn't anything that wouldn't deter her from sleeping. Hell, that warmth actually felt more beneficial, contrasting against the cold room she had to deal with for the few nights before.

Whatever it may have been, it was definitely enough for Umi to sleep soundly, unbothered even by Eli's light snoring.


	6. epilogue: after a storm comes a rainbow

"Good morning, Umi."

Umi's eyes opened immediately, almost as if she had forgotten what had happened last night, and if it weren't for Eli's arms being wrapped around her, she would have had a much more major freak out. But instead, as she saw Eli's gaze piercing into her own, she stayed quiet, almost too shy to make any form of response.

"Good morning, Eli. Did we, uh," Umi asked, very much wanting to ask questions. Even now, the memories that happened last night were a bit of a blur, with alcohol being what Umi blamed for her lack of remembrance.

Before Umi could continue, however, she was silenced by Eli's lips. Her lips didn't move much as they kissed, almost in response to Umi's inability to fight back; shock flooded her system to the point of pure stillness. As Eli pulled back, she gave a giggle. "Does that answer your question?"

As much as it did, knowing the answer to that question left Umi red in the face, pulling away from Eli's embrace with the simple response of "I should probably take a bath."

Umi's legs felt almost too weak for walking on a cruise; her first steps on the boat were probably more graceful, but she quickly made her way to the bathroom despite this, turning on the lights and shutting the door behind her.

As she should have expected, the cruise didn't have a standard Japanese bathroom in it, but instead one which was definitely Western, complete with a toilet, sink, and shower. She didn't care about the line of different toiletries outside of what were definitely cruise amenities in the shower, primarily because she didn't spend enough time looking at them to process their existence. Instead, she was completely shower-bound, and the moment she stepped in, she turned on the water, letting the deluge of cold hit her and causing her to let out a yelp.

To make things even more awkward, she heard the doorknob rattling for a moment before opening. As much as she wanted to scream about how she didn't lock the door, the sole comfort she had was that she knew exactly who was behind her, who took a step in the shower with her, who embraced her from behind.

"I'd feel bad if we didn't share," Eli cooed into her ear before turning her around so that Umi was facing her. Noticing the height difference, Umi tried to stand on her toes to match her height. After a quick peck to her lips, Umi's calves felt a bit wobbly and she stood back down to make sure she didn't fall in the shower.

"I'm not sure if I-"

"We can always just clean ourselves off. We don't have to do anything more," Eli responded, with Umi responding with a sigh of relief. At least she knew that there wouldn't be too much touching; just enough for her to be able to rub soap into her body. Come to think of it, that was still quite a bit, wasn't it?

Eli quickly pulled an arm away from Umi so that she could grab a small bottle, with the words "body wash" written on it. She grabbed one of Umi's wrists and asked her to open her hand; as she did, she poured some body wash into her open palm before letting go and doing the same for herself, lathering her hands with body wash before pressing them against Umi's body. Umi, after a few seconds of shock, returned the favor, running her fingers up and down her skin, even across the marks that she made the night before, without a care in the world.

It almost felt therapeutic rubbing Eli's body with soap. Even now, with everything that happened, it still felt surreal that she was touching her, running her hands across all of her body without anything stopping her. But at the same time, she appreciated the smoothness of her skin-_ flawlessness _, as Umi thought to herself- and the obvious toning of her body underneath; she felt almost inclined to push and massage her muscles while rubbing the body wash into her. It was about as enjoyable as watching the lather run down her body.

"So uh, Eli," Umi mumbled. "About last night…"

"I had so much fun. Don't worry about that, Umi. You're great company, and I definitely want to talk to you more."

"As a friend?" Umi questioned, almost as if she wanted more of an answer out of her. She was fine with only being a friend, but there was also much more she could have wanted.

"If you make out with your friends and take them on cute dates, then sure." Eli winked, trying to relieve that tension that was easily forming in Umi's head. "But I'd prefer being your girlfriend over anything else."

"Isn't this a bit too soon?" Umi yelped. As much of that was great news, she almost felt like it was going too fast. After all, they met only a few days ago.

"I'll save the confession for later, when we get to know each other better, then," Eli replied. "Maybe I'll save it for Valentine's Day after I make you some chocolates."

"Eli, please," Umi whimpered, almost as if she forgot that she wasn't in public. Hell, this was the complete _opposite _of public, but it still felt almost embarrassing. At least it was the good kind of embarrassing, about as good as feeling Eli's hands across her body and making sure she washed her off of all that dirtiness that happened last night.

As much as she appreciated being able to run her hands across Eli's body, and how much she loved her hands on her own, Umi didn't mind Eli turning off the water. They were clean, as clean as they could have been with that shower, and there wasn't much of a point staying there for any longer. "You said you didn't want any more, right?" Eli asked as she reached for a towel, giving it to Umi for her to dry herself off with.

Umi stepped out of the shower, giving her a nod as a response.

After a few seconds of what felt like idle stillness, Eli's eyes brightened a bit and she immediately headed out of the bathroom and towards her bed. Umi was slow to follow, and when she arrived at Eli's bed, she was already finished with writing down a number.

"Here's my phone number!" Eli said. "I'm not sure if you have your phone on you right now, but if you don't, here's my number just in case."

Umi kicked around for a bit, before running her toes across her shorts. Yep, she didn't have her phone on her. It was in her room. Thus, she took the paper, folded it, and placed it on a corner of the bed. "Thanks," Umi responded, before grabbing her clothes off of the floor and trying her best to put them on; the only thing which was of any issue were her panties, which were only slightly uncomfortable.

Once she was finished dressing, she looked back at Eli, who had the pair of panties she wore from last night in her hand. "Do you want these, too?"

It took every single fiber of her being not to take it then and there, but she managed. She even managed to maintain her rage, politely excusing herself the first time that she asked that question. After Eli extended her arm closer, asking if she was sure, she couldn't handle it and she immediately stuffed it into one of her pockets, letting it act as a souvenir. Once again, her thanks were nothing more but mumbling.

"Don't tell Nico or Nozomi about this," she huffed.

"No worries!" Eli responded. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you," Umi responded, almost as a reflex, "and thank you for last night. I've been wondering how I could say that I liked you, but I never really got the chance."

"No problem. I was looking for a way to do that myself, and Nozomi recommended that I get something for the party and maybe flirt with you a bit."

"Sitting on my lap is _not _flirting."

"You didn't take my hints before!" Eli laughed.

After a few moments of her thinking about everything that happened, she started to realize that, yea, she definitely had been a bit too dense. It almost seemed unreal that Eli would have liked her, but the more she thought about what she was doing, no wonder why Nico and company thought that they were going out or something to that effect. There definitely was some date-like stuff going on there. Umi felt pretty stupid the more she thought about it, wondering how she could have been so dense about it.

At least, it all turned out well in the end.

That was, until Umi wished Eli a good day (after putting her number in her other pocket) and being greeted by Nico, Nozomi, Honoka, and Kotori, each of them with different variations of the same smirk, one which read _I know what you did last night _.

Umi gulped. There was a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

"And you said we wouldn't be meeting anyone on the cruise!" Honoka laughed as she left the highway, taking a detour to Umi's house. "I'm still surprised you did that with Eli-chan!"

"Honoka, I know Kotori's at home, but can we _please _talk about something else?"

"Umi-chan," Honoka reassured, "I'm just really happy that you have a girlfriend! I know it must be annoying seeing me and Kotori-chan acting so lovey-dovey, but now we can have double dates as well as hang out!"

"I mean, if you want," Umi replied.

"Eli-chan seems like she's very sweet so I don't think I'd mind meeting her, and I'm pretty sure Kotori knows her quite well, too. I don't see much of a problem with it!"

"I guess we'll just have to see what happens then, huh?"

Honoka nodded, before immediately stopping right next to the Sonoda dojo. "I'll see you soon, right?"

Umi nodded. "I'll talk with you later today, actually," she replied as she stepped out of the car, giving Honoka a wave as she drove away. Making sure that she was in the clear, she turned around and pulled out her phone and Eli's number, dialing it as precisely as she could.

As her phone rang in her hand, Umi's heart felt like it was racing. Hopefully she dialed the right number. Thankfully for her, it didn't take that long for her to hear back, with Eli's voice as beautiful and rich as it was when she talked with her in person. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Eli, it's Umi. Sonoda Umi, from the cruise, and I was wondering if we could go on a date sometime soon…"


End file.
